Sweet Smell of Heartache
by KeiraRyan33
Summary: Rukia comes home after years to heal her broken heart, coming back believeing she will never love again, then she meets Ichigo, the flirtatious musician. Will he be the one to open her heart again? Or be the one to break her heart further? Or will her childhood friend be everything she never knew she wanted? GrimmjowxRukiaxIchigo
1. Prologue

Description: Rukia Kuchiki, an artsy music lover and recently single, now returns to the town she has left behind 5 years ago after her engagement was broken off by the man she loved for 9 years. Broken hearted, she finds comfort in her best friend Grimmjow and starts to fix her broken life. The last thing she needs or wants is love. Could it be the only thing that could heal her heart? Or will she find more heartbreak in the world around her? Will her world be the same dark and lonely place that it was turned into?

…

It was one of those times, were it feels as if the ground you stand on had been roughly taken from right under you. Where your body trembles unable to hold in your agony and you feel as if collapsing is the only way to bear it. The pain as the heart in your chest is far beyond breaking and it melts, sinks to the bottom of your chest leaving behind nothing but anguish. What did I do to deserve this? Why of all the people in the world did this have to happen to me? Why couldn't I have been good enough? All these questions rang through the girl's mind, questions that she will never have an answer to.

She stood there, mere feet away from him. Standing in the living room her dark violet orbs widen in shock and pain. Her body trembled as she fought the urge to cry. Her dark raven hair still wet from getting out of the shower rested in slight waves falling on her collarbone. Across from her stood a man at least a foot and a half taller than her, dark black hair with dark green eyes that held regret, not regret for hurting her, but regret for telling her in person. He couldn't stand that look on her face.

Her lips trembled as she tried to search for the right words to say. For the right questions to asked. None of which would have changed anything, the answers would not take this feeling away nor will it make the pain easier, if anything the answers would only break her heart even more if that were possible.

They were answers that she was never going to get.

Kaien Shiba, the man she met at the tender age of 15 and fell madly in love with him, actually it was love at first sight. She never believed in such things until she saw his face, he was her everything. What she felt for him was love, for lack of a better word seeing how her feelings for him seemed to surpass love. Her feelings for him were probably the main reason that they were together for 9 years straight one of those years they were engaged.

Her fiancée stood before her, the man she loved more than life itself. Explaining how he was in love with another, how for the past 3 years he had been seeing someone else that made him feel alive for the first time. And what him and Rukia shared was merely what he believed was love, but mostly a waste of time.

"How do you know that this is love? That it's her that you're supposed to be with?" Rukia pleaded as she cast her eyes to the side, her eyebrows knot it pain. She stood in front of him yet she couldn't yet bring herself to look into those eyes. His eyes held no regret or guilt toward what he was doing to her. She couldn't face those heartless eyes, scratch that he wasn't heartless; he just had no room in his heart for someone like her.

"I feel things with her that I just never felt when I was with you. I know this is love" he coldly remarked with a hint of a smile gracing his lips at the thought of the woman he was seeing behind Rukia's back.

"What we had only looked like love, but really we were just using each other." He added as he let the smile disappear from his face looking down at his toes, he may not love her but he felt awkward at the situation he was in. If only he could have just wrote her a letter so he wouldn't have to do this in person.

She didn't want to say anything; she fell in a pit of despair. Her body had no energy left in it to fight about this any longer. Rukia, although may have a rough exterior, was a kind gentle person who did not wish any pain or suffering on the man that has caused her so much of it. Nothing she could say would hurt him because the simple fact remained, he didn't care anymore. She could yell at him, she could slap him, she could say how much he hurt her and how her life and heart had shattered before his eyes and none of it would matter to him.

Rukia Kuchiki, the woman of courage and strength was completely helpless against such heartbreak.

"We can't make this work? I can move on from this as long as I know I will have you in the end. Please?" it was at this moment that she turned to look into his emotionless face with her eyes full of hope. She could not let the man she loved go that easily without even trying. She looked pathetic.

"I can't be with someone I don't love." They stood in silence neither had anything left to say anymore. If they were meant for each other, if they where to be together one of them would fight for it. Kaien didn't want to fight for it; he didn't want to be with her anymore and can't believe he let it drag on for as long as he did. Rukia, she couldn't fight, she had nothing left to offer him. She offered the world.

She gave him her heart, her life. She gave him a world where he would be loved for the rest of his life and never have to live a day cold, alone, sad or hurt because she would protect him from everything. She had nothing else. She tried her best for the man she loved so dearly.

The sweet smell of heartache filled the room.

It was only then that she realized, love only existed to hurt people. That day, that she spilled her heart, and gave her all for something she desired and got this in return. Was the day she gave up on the idea of love, and believed that such a feeling did not exist; heartbreak and desolation were the closest things to love.

…

Rukia walked through the halls of the expensive condo looking for room 253.

She had her black leather purse thrown over her shoulder as she looked down at the paper in front of her. She was wearing tight black skinny jeans with leather red ballet flats that had a bow on the front along with a plain white skin tight V neck shirt that fell right above her pant line, her studded belt visible. On top of that she had a tight black leather jacket that went down to her ribcage and ended, left open so the shirt was seen along with a long necklace that went down to her sternum, it was in the shape of a sparrow. Her dark raven hair, normally flipped out at the ends was straightened so the jagged edges rest straight over her collarbone.

Rukia took off her big sunglasses as she saw the room she was headed for. A smile spread across her lips, the first real smile she had placed on her face in weeks. As she started heading towards the room she remembered the reason she was here in the first place.

She was here for Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. He was not her lover, he was not her fall back, but he was the greatest friend she could have ever asked for. A friend that she had not seen in 5 years because of her darling fiancée who had them move across the ocean away from Grimmjow.

In high school Grimmjow was the only person that she ever got along with well. Both were stubborn, rough, strong, hot headed, brutal, but they both were also kind, loyal, smart, generous, laid back, and friendly but that was only to each other. They were inseparable as they grew up. It was because of him that she was able to start writing for her favorite art and music magazine, _Rage_. He always believed in her even when she didn't at all and vise versa. It had been years since she last looked at his face but regardless of the distance their friendship never died. She would call him, talk to him for hours she would write him letters and send him gifts as often as she could and he would do the same for her.

When she called him crying about all that happened he suggested that she came back home. Being with him, her friends, and her family would do her a lot of good. She agreed, it didn't take much convincing due to the fact she wanted nothing more than to get away from Kaien and away from that foreign town where she was isolated from everyone that she held dear to her.

She was nervous about how he was going to react to her. It's been so long since he had seen her she was worried he wouldn't like her new appearance. In high school she was short, well she still was short, but she was a lot shorter in high school and had long locks that went to her chest. And she had the body of a preteen boy.

She had grown a lot in the 5 years she had been away from him. She wasn't 17 anymore she was now 24 and the years treat her very well. She was 4'8 in high school but she was taller now reaching 4'11. Yes, that is short for the average person but to her it was gigantic status. Although she wasn't curvy or busty she had such an elegant slender figure (like lenalee from D. Gray Man), she took good care of her skin and body and it paid off. Her soft flawless pale skin looked like silk as the sun would touch it. She had a curve to her body now, her chest grew now Grimmjow can't call her flat chested anymore, and her hips were well shaped. She smirked at the thought of him teasing her again.

She inhaled deeply as she brought her hand up to knock on the door. She waited as the seconds went on like hours, she couldn't believe she was going to see Grimmjow after so long. Finally the door opened and Rukia practically choked on the air she was breathing, the years didn't do him any bad either.

He was breathtaking. The Grimmjow in high school was tall and mildly muscular, like any average teenage boy. He was a football player and took his game seriously it was his good athleticism that paid for his college education. But the man before her was totally different.

He was tall, towering over her small frame. He was wearing a really thin light brown sweater that could pass off as a shirt, that had a hood and long sleeves that had been rolled up to his elbows exposing his strong forearms, plain dark denim jeans without shoes. But he was gorgeous. His face, he had such strong masculine bone structure it was humanly impossible for someone to look this... this… beautiful. His blue hair messy, but in a way where it almost seems like its supposed to be that way. He smirked at her reaction.

"Done eye humping me yet?" he grinned as he saw her face change to a deep scowl her sharp eyes narrowed at him. Everything might have changed about him, but he still had that smart mouth.

"Please, nothing special to look at just a lump of testosterone and steroids" she put her free hand in her pocket as she smirked up at him, then again she never lost her sharp tongue either.

They both gazed at each other with smirks. Before they knew it Rukia roughly dropped her bag on the floor and jumped into his open arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and dug her head into his collarbone her face resting on his sternum. His big muscular arms wrapped around her back as they both just smiled in each others grasp.

"Welcome home" he mumbled in her hair as he pulled back to take another look at her again. She was beautiful, she had grown up into a real women. He never thought he would see her again after she left and here she was standing before him. The years apart killed him but he learned to get over it.

"Thanks, trust me its good to be back" she walked past him into the condo and smiled at it. The walls were crimson red, with white and black furniture. Various paintings on the wall and no pictures of him anywhere, it had a very nice atmosphere to it and she didn't expect that from him. There was a kitchen to the right when she walked in the door and to the left was a glass table that had two chairs on opposite sides of each other. As she walked in there was a door that lead to the balcony on the left side and in front of her was a big living room, white couches a large flat screen T.V. and various game systems and games on a black shelf. He was still a nerd at heart.

The kitchen was cozy sized with black appliances and grey stone high counters that had bar stools on the opposite side. Beyond the kitchen was a small hall with four doors, one to the master bedroom that had its own bathroom, the other a spare room, a closet, and a guest bathroom. It wasn't as big as she thought it would be considering Grimmjow made a lot of money, but he really only used it to sleep in. he was rarely home. She turned around to look at him as he leaned on the counter staring at her.

He couldn't help but gaze at her. She was so flawless and beautiful he had no idea why someone could leave her and not feel like an asshole over it. Her face, her light skin, those sharp eyes that held a deep violet color that couldn't be compared to anyone's, it was a lot to take in. She was all grown up now.

"Thank you, for letting me come and crash your bachelor pad" she smiled leaning on the wall across from him staring at him, it meant the world to her that he would let her stay there with him until she was able to stand on her own to feet.

"Somebody has to take you in, I'm not all for taking in strays but I'll make an exception for you" He smiled at her, he loved how he felt when she was around, even in this broken down state of the girl he once knew so well.

"Well I'm glad you are" she grinned as her eyes darkened looking at the ground before her.

"So, are you going to talk to me or are we going to ignore the elephant in the room" his faced turned serious as he gazed into her eyes.

"What's there left to say?" she mumbled under her breathe.

"Theres everything, you told me what happened but I don't understand it Rukia" he ran a hand through his hair in frustration sighing. She was one to hold in all of her feelings. She would trap herself in all of her misery and pain and make a shell around her self that she didn't want anyone to enter. She was always thinking of others it was a great quality to have, but it always resulted in more pain for her.

"He didn't love me, that's it there's nothing more to it" her voice so hollow it sent a shiver down his spine. She looked up and held a sad smile.

"He's a fucking idiot" Grimmjow grunted he couldn't believe that someone could put a person like Rukia through this. She of all people didn't deserve it. He was angry, nobody could hurt Rukia, no body had the power to hurt her she was so strong and never let anyone in close enough to be able to break her heart. And here she was, with a broken heart on her sleeve and no protection because it couldn't break anymore than it already had.

"No it's not his fault; somewhere down the line I kind of figured he didn't love me anymore. I was just blinded by my own happiness and needs that I didn't want to believe it, if I said something when I started to notice it this wouldn't have happened" she shrugged her shoulders and walked in the kitchen. Her and Grimmjow where now standing face to face with each other the counter separating them staring intently at each other.

"You're full of shit" he grunted staring at her as he saw her mask break for a second. "You know you didn't do anything, you just feel like blaming yourself because that's what you do, you try and blame yourself for everything." he hated how kind she was.

"I don't, I just know where to place the blame and yes, I blame him for cheating but I am to blame for letting it get to that point. I just wasn't good enough for him to stay if I was he wouldn't have cheated." She was being honest, this is what she was feeling inside.

"That's what you always said, in high school when he would cheat on you or hurt you, it was your fault? You may look different, sound different, and even dress different but your still the same girl I knew in high school" he leaned on the counter and smiled to himself as he saw her confused expression.

"Is that good or bad?"

"Good, because I loved that girl, bad because you haven't learned anything about love, or how to stop carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders" he smiled as he saw her smirk.

"I'm not that same girl; the world has turned into a dark place now. When I was high school the world was right in front of us ready for us to take our hold on it and now it seems as if it crumbled down." She has a smirk on her face but inside those words crushed her because it was true, the man she believed to be the one had left her, she left the city she had lived in leaving behind her music career. She started off as nothing everything that she worked so hard for was now gone.

"The world can be anything you make it"

Her smile faded away from her face.

"I choose to feel this way?"

"Not necessarily" he didn't know how to explain it exactly. "Hey, I have a good job for you if your interested, I knew that you would be here for a while so I had one of my friends get you a gig for now" he wanted her to feel better and didn't feel like having a long talk with her right about now.

"What kind of job?" he peeked her interest.

"A bar, but it has live music which I'm sure you would appreciate and the atmosphere is very you" he smiled as he saw her face full of fascination.

"So I'm going to have to cater to drunken buffoons?" she lifted an eye brow at him.

"I'm sure you have experience in the matter, you dealt with me through high school" he had a smirk on his face as he saw her face full of pure amusement.

"True, if I can deal with a drunken Grimmjow I can probably deal with anything"

"Exactly, although I'm not sure why you dealt with my ass in the first place?" he did a lot of crazy things during high school and got into a lot of trouble and she never seemed to lose faith in him and always believed that there was good intentions behind his awful acts. She would always nurse him back to health when he was hung over or got into a fight, she would help him with his homework and projects so that he could keep his football scholarship.

"Because if you got kicked out I would have to hang out with the baboons known as our graduating class" really its because he meant the world to her and she wouldn't be able to bare high school on her own without his support.

"I think its cause you love me and would miss me to much" he smiled at her.

"Please get over yourself, Calvin Klein" she grunted as she walked over to the living room looking around the house.

"You know, when you invited me over I expected to see a gigantic naked picture of you in your living room" she leaned back on the wall crossing her arms as she stared at him, admiring his manly features.

"Is that a hint of disappointment I hear? I apologize" he smirked, "Just because I'm a male model doesn't mean that I have a big ego or anything" he was, he started modeling his second year of college and found a nag for it. He found it simple and easy there was no real talent for it, at least for him, and it paid really good money.

"I don't think it's possible for you to have a bigger ego Grimm" she smirked; she seemed to do that a lot when he was around. He amused her and it was fun to talk to him it was like there was no world beyond these walls. They had a special friendship that you really couldn't find anywhere.

"Oh before I forget we should head out soon its almost six, Matsumoto will be leaving soon she said wants to see if your well qualified"

"Alright let's head out" she smiled as he grabbed her hand and started walking toward the door.

…

Rukia and Grimmjow got out of the car it was already getting dark here and it was cold. Rukia rubbed her arm as she clung to her bag.

The words 'Scarlet Ave.' where written in dark black and a gothic font where the words curled. There where glass windows that hand dark crimson drapes over them. Outside where a few small tables and chairs that were trapped in by black metal gates. Grimmjow grabbed her hand again and opened the door. The place looked like a gothic café more than a bar.

"Stay close" he grunted as they walked inside. There where people everywhere she couldn't believe it. To the right was a long bar that seemed to go on forever. There where workers running around and spinning bottles. To the left of the giant room there was a stage, small stage that had a drum set and many cords and amps on it with a microphone at the middle of it. Black curtains framed on the sides. The walls where a deep crimson, scarlet color and tables and appliances where black, there was a dim light and at some parts the lights where red. There was smoke in the air.

Grimmjow's hand tighten its grip on her small one as he pushed through the crowd, they walked until they reached the end of the bar and turned right where there was a stair case that went to the second floor where there was a glass door that read Manager Matsumoto. Grimmjow carelessly grabbed the handle and pushed the door open barging in.

"You know the door is there for a reason, your supposed to knock on it ape" Rukia looked up at the voice and saw a tall woman almost the same height as Grimmjow with long flowing blonde hair and bright eyes, she was wearing black slacks and a skin tight white button up shirt with the top unbutton so a dangerous amount of cleavage was showing. She was sitting at a desk with a computer and calculator in front of her, she pushed the chair back and faced her new intruders. She was probably the most beautiful girl she had seen anywhere. Rukia was slightly awe struck when she saw her, such beauty and she owned a bar? Rukia assumed she was one of Grimm's model friend with looks like that.

"Well your expecting me, it would be rude to keep you waiting with idiotic formalities" he smirked as he let Rukia's hand go. She was looking out to the right, there where no walls in this room they were all glass windows so as better to see out into the bar and watch trouble, this room was located right above the bar area.

"What a charmer" she smiled as she stood up and walked to the pair. "Might I ask what a beautiful creature like you is doing with a man like him?" Matsumoto smiled as she saw Rukia, she couldn't get over how beautiful she was. Rukia politely laughed and put her hand out to shake Matsumoto's.

"Sometimes I wonder myself, I'm Rukia Kuchiki it's a pleasure to meet you" they shook hands.

"Just call me Matsumoto, and you said Kuchiki? As in Byakuya Kuchiki?"

"Ahh, well yes he's my brother-in-law" Rukia smiled. Although inside she hated it, she hated that she was always associated with him because he was a big shot rich business man.

"Brother-in-law? Then why do you guys share the same last name?" Rukia got this question quite a lot and quite frankly she hated answering it. It was a long story that she didn't want to share.

"Give her room, don't ask her too many questions just show her the bar and give her the job" Grimmjow read Rukia like a book. He knew how she got when Byakuya was brought up and how it affected her greatly. Matsumoto just rolled her eyes and walked up headed for the door motioning for them to follow.

"Very protective that's unlike you, well I'll give you the tour" she swayed her hips as she walked holding a clip board in front of her and a pen in her hair. The air was loud and music was playing, no someone was singing. Rukia moved her head and looked up at the stage. Her and Grimmjow where waiting at the end of the bar. "I'll be right back, have a drink or two I need to have a word with one of my special guests" she meant some big name was there and she needed to make sure they were being taken care of. She walked off without another word.

"Want a drink?" Grimmjow smiled at her, the dim lights made Rukia's eyes shine a beautiful shade of violet unlike any he has ever seen, and she had a small smile grace her lips as she looked up at him. "The strongest one they have" she answered as he walked to the other side of the bar to try and get the bartenders attention.

She turned back to the stage to see who was singing, they had such a strong voice and so unique. Her eyes were turned to the boy on stage. He was sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar his eyes half open, his head tilted singing his heart out into the microphone. He had orange hair, which threw her for a loop, she lived in the city and saw a lot of crazy things in her days but orange hair? That one had not been seen before.

She turned her entire body now to face the stage to examine this boy; well boy wasn't the right word. He looked around her age maybe a little younger? He was wearing tight blue jeans that had a small chain on it with a black band shirt on with converse, chuck taylor's.

He looked in her direction, his eyes half closed opened wide as he gazed at her. His head was tilted singing now turned in her direction; he kept singing but couldn't take his eyes off of her. He didn't look like Kaien did he? Was it just her imagination? That face, it was exactly the same.

Her eyes opened a little her hands at her side, that face it was so much like Kaien's it wasn't fair for fate to play with her like this. His eyes didn't leave her's, she had never met this guy in her entire life and here he was looking at her in such a way that she couldn't explain. His bright orange hair, his harsh honey brown eyes seemed to glow a bright orange as the lights from the stage hit them. He played and sang, his voice was so sensual. Why did he have to look at her with that face? The face she ran away from.

She turned as fast as she could and leaned on the bar as her eyes widen in shock. She came here so she wouldn't have to see that face, so she wouldn't ever has to look that man in the eyes, to get away from him. She felt a strong hand press against the small of her back she turned to her left and was face to face with Grimmjow.

"Have you seen a ghost or something? People are here to drink away there problems not find new ones." his face was mere centimeters away from her, it was so loud in there he had to be close to hear her. His right hand still on her lower back he placed a shot in front of her with his left. She smiled, grabbed the shot with her right hand and drank it all. Right now she wasn't going to feel any pain or remorse. Just then the music stopped and Matsumoto came up with a wide smile.

"Sorry about that, how are you two doing" she grinned she was on the bar side serving drinks around her before leaning in on her elbows.

"Fine, cut to the chase I would like to go home sometime today" Grimmjow grunted, he let the hand on Rukia's back go as he leaned on the bar with his left elbow.

"Grimm behave yourself, that's not how you talk to the girl who has my employment status in the palm of her hands" she grunted then turned to smile at Matsumoto.

"Well I'm glad you haven't rubbed off on your girlfriend yet Grimmjow, she seems a lot more civil than you." She laughed as she saw his annoyed expression, "Well Rukia, have you ever worked in a bar before?"

"Yes, when I worked for 2 years part time." she smiled being polite as she always was.

"Part time?"

"Oh, I was a writer during that time and it wasn't really time consuming so I picked up bartending." She smiled again as she took Grimmjow's drink and took a sip of it as he snatched it back from her.

"Well that's good, you have experience. Now your not going to make me regret hiring you, right? Our last guy just quit on us out of no where and those shoes need to fill fast and I'm not patient".

"You can count on me, I will be here whenever you need me, and I never half ass anything I do"

"Well that's good to hear as well" Matsumoto had a good feeling about this girl. "Can you sing? Or play anything?"

"I do both, I have a nag for it" Rukia smiled it was the question she had been dying to answer. Music was her soul, it meant the world to her, it was the love of her life. Her passion was art and music she painted pictures, sung songs, wrote music, and wrote for a music and art magazine for years.

"Well why didn't you say that from the start! Rukia Kuchiki," she extended her hand out towards Rukia. "It will be a pleasure working with you my dear" Rukia smiled a big wide smile as she grabbed her hand roughly and shook it.

"Thank you! I promise I will not disappoint you! It was nice to meet you by the way"

"Yeah you too, see you in a couple days" Matsumoto ran off back up to her office.

"Did you hear that? I got the job!" she grabbed what was left of Grimmjow's drink and gulped it down letting a loud sigh escape her lips. She had a smug smile on her face, maybe things here would be better than she thought. She looked to her left and saw Grimmjow's mouth moving but couldn't hear anything. She motioned to her ears and put her hand out and raised her eyebrow. He smirked and leaned into her; he brought his right hand out and tucked her silky raven hair behind her ear as he pressed his lips to it.

"I knew you would get it, now lets go" he mumbled in her ear as she placed her hands on his chest and leaned up to his own ear.

"I owe you for getting me this job, anyway I could repay you?" she placed her hands on his shoulders to help her stay up so she would be able to stay by his ear. She glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of the orange haired boy from the stage. He started at her with a strong stern look, and a scowl. He put his hands in his pockets and walked up to Matsumoto's office, why was he scowling at her for? She was so focused on the orange haired boy she didn't know that she was surprised when Grimmjow placed a hand on her hip and leaned down.

"I'll show you how you could repay me when we get home" he grinned. She looked up behind his shoulders to the room above them, she could see the boy from before looking down at her and she tried to keep her head down while looking up, she didn't want him to think she was stalking him at all. His face hurt her so much but she couldn't stop looking away from him.

"Keep it in your pants Grimm" she smiled as she grabbed his hand and started heading out. There fingers entwined they headed into the night.

…

"Really? Of all the things I could do to repay you this is what you want?" her eyes were half closed in a blank and annoyed face. Grimmjow was sitting on a bar stool across the counter from her as she was on the other side.

"Don't judge me!" she laughed. Here she was at midnight making French toast for a full grown man. Of all the things she could do to him and for him he wanted her to make him French toast. She couldn't keep the laugh in.

"I fail to see the humor in this, I'm a model all I know how to make is the healthy shit I've been craving Rukia sugar toast since you left years ago." He took another bite of his French toast and grunted closing his eyes.

"We'll I'm glad to know that after 5 years you've missed my toast?" she raised an eyebrow as smoothed out her white shirt and dusted the powder sugar off her black jeans. She looked at him and smiled a sad smile, she was glad to be back and glad to be with her best friend again, but she couldn't shake off this feeling in her heart.

"I'm going to bed" she turned to walk down the hall.

"I'm glad you came back, I missed you" he said it soft and in a gentle town as she stopped. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself before she headed to her room. It was nice to feel needed by someone. She forgot there was a world outside of Kaien and outside of the life they had together. But at least she was never going to go through that again, her heart was sealed, it was now locked away in a place that no one could ever reach it.

What was the point of love? It didn't do anything besides hurt you in the end. Kaien, he left a huge hole in her heart and she didn't want it to be filled with love, she will fill it with friends and career fulfillment. Love was useless.

If you don't fall in love, you don't get hurt

…

So what did you think?

This will either be a GrimmxRukia, or IchigoxRukia it depends on what you guys want. I know this was kind of a rough start but there will be a lot of events happening later on in the quest to heal a broken heart.

I will update faster on review[:


	2. Loneliness

Words full of passion and emotion filled his lungs and he shared it with the rest of the world to hear, well everyone in _Scarlet Ave_. He played the guitar with the slightest of ease, his eyes half closed almost bored playing the same song for the 3rd night in a row got old. His orange hair seemed to shine in the dim room, the lights directed straight on him, honey colored eyes seemed to glow. Why did he always have to play these songs? About love, it was ironic the only things he wanted to sing about was heartache. That's all he understood.

Love, he understood it at one point in time in his life, when a beautiful girl walked in his life what seems like forever ago and just as abrupt as she came in and stole his heart, she walked out taking it with her.

His train of thought was cut off when he looked beyond the crowd, beyond the drunken girls screaming to a girl. She was looking directly at him and his eyes widen, he turned his head to face her to get a better look at her. She was so beautiful; her big sharp eyes caught his. She was flawless. Her dark raven locks rest on her collarbone. Her tight white V neck and leather jacket showed what a slim figure she had. Her eyes, they seemed to shine as the dim red light reflected in her violet orbs. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. Her beauty was beyond any he had seen here. As fast as she looked into his eyes she turned away. His eyes ran up and down her frame as he examined her, finding more appealing things about her. He continued to sing, he didn't take his eyes off of her hoping that she would turn around.

Hoping that he would get a glimpse of those eyes again, as he watched her he saw a hand capture the small of her back leaning in close to this new girl that stole his attention. Light blue hair? Grimmjow, it was obvious he could tell from across the room who that man was. The man he hated with a passion. Why was his hand on her like that? Why is he leaning so dangerously close to her? Why would a classy girl like her be around someone like him?

He saw her put her head back, taking a shot as he noticed Grimmjow's unmoved hand and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly he noticed that Matsumoto came up to talk to the girl in question and he knew that he would get his introduction. He stopped playing as the people around him cheered, leaving the stage without a bow or anything. He wanted to know who this girl was and he wanted to know right now.

"Renji!" he yelled getting off of the stage in the back, there were steps that he walked down as he reached his red headed friend. Renji was a tall man with tattoos that covered most of his body, with long read hair that was pulled in a low pony tail.

"Don't call my name like I'm some kinda servant, Ichigo" his friend grunted as he put his guitar away in a case. He locked the instrument safely away and stood it up against the wall as he turned around to face Ichigo. "What do you want?" he leaned against the wall as Ichigo put his hands in his pockets slightly hunched over.

"What business does Matsumoto have today?" he asked, he wanted to know if she had any business with a girl like the one he just saw. Renji just lifted an eyebrow.

"What do I look like her baby sitter? I don't know her schedule." He grunted both of them walking out pushing aside the thick curtain and where now on the ground floor of the bar. Ichigo picked his head up motioning in the direction of the bar.

"Who's that girl over there with her?" he asked his eyes not leaving her as he saw the two girls in deep conversation.

"I don't know, but if she's with Grimmjow you better let this one go" Renji was a good friend to Ichigo; he would always protect his friend no matter what. Ichigo ran into trouble with Grimmjow on many occasions and it never ended nice. "There are plenty of other girls". Ichigo didn't let his gaze drop as he continued to stare at her his eyes never leaving her as he heard the jist of what Renji was telling him. Renji noticed how Ichigo continued to look at the girl, he was intensely watching her.

"Like you will actually listen to me, this is going to end the same way I don't know why you bother" Ichigo knew what he meant. Ever since about a couple years ago he had been seeing a lot of girls, and no matter how it started, no matter how different or unique or beautiful the girl was he would always find a reason to leave. Ever since she walked out of his life he held girls at ridiculous standards not to protect himself but just because no girl seemed to be enough for him anymore. She was the greatest girl he had ever meant and he was looking for her, a girl that looked like her, a girl that acted like her, would laugh like her. But one that would stay with him, unlike her. Women were expendable to him; there was always another one when one wouldn't pan out.

To be honest, he really didn't know why he bothered anymore either. He would meet a girl they would click and than just as soon as it would start it would end. It was the same thing just different girls. But, that never stopped him though he believed there was a girl out there just for him.

"Are you going to sit here and give me a lecture on how I should run my life, Dad?" he grunted, he hated being reminded of his habits. He didn't like it when Renji would bring up girls because all of those conversations would end talking about her.

"Nope, it's something you'll learn when you become a big kid and become smart enough to understand emotions and relationships"

"We'll I might as well live it up until I get there, ignorance is bliss right?" he grinned.

"Only morons and children believe that kinda logic" Renji lightly punched Ichigo in the arm before he turned around and headed toward the crowd, "Try not to get your ass beat while I'm gone, see you tomorrow" with that said he was gone leaving Ichigo to pursue the girl that had stole his attention.

He wanted to know who she was first, maybe he should at least attempt to heed Renji's warning and do some snooping around before he actually pursued this woman. So he wanted to talk to Matsumoto in her office before hand. His feet began to lead him to the office when he stole a glance at her.

But he saw them whispering to each other and she got up to kiss him. Her hands gently pressed on his shoulders as she leaned forward to his face. His fingers tucked behind her ear, the palm of his hand captured her cheek it was a moment for lovers to share. As he had his usual scowl on his face he stopped walking to stare at the scene before him, just then her big eyes captured his once more, he could look into those orbs for days they were so different, so unique and so mesmerizing. He had her full attention before Grimmjow's hand took hold of her hip and she turned leaving him to walk to the office.

He gripped the handle and roughly pushed the door open.

"Really? Does anyone in this town know how to knock before they enter?" Matsumoto groaned as she stopped typing up the new schedule to turn her attention to Ichigo, "Is there anything I could help you with or are you here to keep me from doing my job?" she put her elbows on the arm of the chair and leaned her head on of her hands, this job got old a lot.

He looked down at the girl below him. "Who was that girl you where talking to?" his eyes so intense on this raven hair woman. Matsumoto was rubbing her eyes with her other hand, she didn't feel like getting started on this one at all.

"Don't even think about it" she moaned while rubbing her eyes with her thumb and index finger, she knew how he was and didn't feel like ruining things right now.

"Is anyone going to give me a break, you guys make it sound like I'm some kind of monster" he saw her exit, she never once looked up at him again, just grasped Grimmjow's hand and exit in a rush. Matsumoto just let out a soft laugh. Ichigo glared at her.

"Lets save that topic for a different day, right now, all I'm going to say is don't think about it with this one." She turned back to her computer taking a drink of coffee; she knew that this was probably going to be a long night.

"Can I at least know who she is? What's wrong with a little curiosity?" he grinned as he jumped up and sat on her desk leaning against the glass that was there to keep an eye on the rest of the bar.

"Curiosity killed the cat you know? I hope you're more intelligent than a cat" she grunted typing on the computer trying to ignore the pest in her office.

"A name at least? Why have I never seen her before?" he looked up at the ceiling leaning his head on the glass as well getting annoyed.

"Alright alright, if I do this will you let me get back to my work?"

"Possibly, I'm off tonight I just might sit here and chat with one of my dear friends" he grinned lifting his legs up so he was sitting Indian style on her desk messing with random items that were within his reach.

"How thoughtful of you" she raised her eyebrow as she pulled out some documents signing them with her name before she turned to face him putting her hands together on her knee as she crossed her legs.

"Her name is Rukia Kuchiki; she will be the new replacement bartender from now on. And unless you feel like exercising your new nursing practices on yourself I will suggest you take the liberty of putting an 'off limits' stamp on this one, she's Grimmjow's" With that said she leaned back in her chair to sip her coffee once more. Ichigo wasn't a nurse, he was going to school to be a doctor but right now he was still in medical school and working at the hospital downtown.

"Not making any promises"

"Doesn't this lifestyle ever get old? At some point in your life you're going to have to grow up and settle down" she grinned as she thought about the person that did that for her, Gin. He was her everything, on her desk next to Ichigo's thigh was a photo of the two of them at her friends wedding, they looked perfect together. She couldn't imagine a life without him.

"I'm starting to see a recurring theme here" he lifted his eyebrow at her.

"Any idiot with a pair of eyes can see that you need to grow up" she chuckled.

"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot lately" he grunted scratching his head as he let out a yawn. He saw Matsumoto's face grow serious as she looking into his eyes and he let out a loud groan, like a child who was about to get lectured. "No, were not going to talk about it" he cast his eyes down, his face changed from a smile to a plain expression.

"You know, someday your going to have to talk about her" Matsumoto looked to the side; she hated seeing him like this. It's been a couple years since she left, and he didn't want to talk about it to anyone. Suddenly he jumped off her desk and headed to the door opening it, letting the smoke and the noise enter her office.

"Thanks for the pep talk chief" with that said he left, slamming the door behind him. She watched him as he left the bar he never once looked back up at her like he would usually do. He would normally get to the door and wave up at her but he was gone.

"Someday you're going to have to deal with that unsettled heart of yours."

..

Ichigo roughly pushed the door to his apartment open, it was empty and silent. Lights were out as he silently shut the door behind him. He stood there for a moment in silence, he was always acting off whenever someone would bring her up. He leaned his head against the door looking up remembering better times. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a soft jingle. A smile graced his lips as he crouched down.

"Hey Kon" he said softly as a small orange and white cat slowly approached him. The small kitten before him let a soft 'meow' escape its small pink lips before Ichigo scoped it up in his arms and started heading to his bedroom.

"You, my friend, should be asleep." He flipped the light switch on as he walked over next to his bed to a big blue pillow and gently placed the fragile kitten on it before turning around to change.

"Do you realize how much crap I would get if you anyone where to see you" he playfully commented as he took off his black shirt revealing a light tan toned chest. He wasn't freakishly in shape with god sculpted muscles like Grimmjow, but he had strong defined abs with a nice built. He took off his pants and slipped on black basketball shorts and an old navy blue shirt and collapsed on his bed. He heard another soft meow from the ground and rolled over on his back, stretching his arm above his head were it touched the ground. Within seconds he felt soft whiskers tickle his fingertips. He tried his hardest to avert his eyes from the dresser behind him. But his body never listened to his mind, he looked up and moved his head back, he may have been upside down, but noting could distort that picture on his dresser.

She was so beautiful; it was a picture of him and her at a football game. He was wearing his navy blue and black flannel smiling, a real true smile with on arm wrapped around her shoulder standing on the left side on the picture. On the right was the girl he loved, she had her head pressed against the nape of his neck, a wide grin on her face. Her violet hair pulled in a ponytail with black football marks on her cheeks, both arms wrapped around his waist. Her eyes, something he had never seen in his entire life, big bright golden eyes that reminded him of the sun, such eyes it wasn't even fair, she was grinning so much in the picture it's a shame he only caught a small glimpse of those addicting orbs. She had a navy button up cotton sweater with a white dress under. The happiest couple, during the happiest time in his life but that was then and this is now.

"Senna" he let her name escape his lips. Life was so perfect, it was easy with her around it was like she made the sun come up; she made the oxygen that he would breathe. He would've died for her, given her the world. But not even that would have made her stay. He gave her everything he had to give her, and all she gave him in return was a void in his life, something that no matter how hard he tried would never be filled.

He got up and walked to the picture and stared at it for a moment. He looked at her face, that grin; the only proof that at one point in time he did make her happy. Regret filled his face, how could someone be so happy one day and so miserable the next? He could hear her laughter clearly in his head, it echoed as he remembered that smile. Everything about her was so real, as if he just saw her yesterday instead of 2 years ago. The pain never got easier, he never forgot her like she promised he would.

'_I couldn't live in a world where there is no Ichigo'_

How true he wished that was, if only she still felt that way. It wasn't fair that he could hear her voice say that again so clearly as if it were true. He grabbed the picture and placed it face down so he wouldn't have to be haunted by that ghost once more. No girl had ever come even close to Senna, no girl ever made him feel like he did when he was with her. He tried, he tried to fill that void she left with girls hoping he would find one that could make him forget about Senna. He heard another soft meow at his feet. He looked down and smirked.

"What? Are you going to tell me to grow up too Kon?" he picked the kitten up as he looked into his innocent face and big sad eyes, "That's what I thought" he turned around and placed it back on it's bed before he walked over and turned off the light, letting his feet guide him to his bed to let him sleep.

…

It was her first day of work; she was anxiously walking to the bar excited about starting. She had been doing nothing for the past 4 days besides cooking for Grimmjow. It was nice to be out, regardless that it was really cold outside. She as walking through the streets in the dark cold foggy atmosphere in a black and white striped shirt that ended at her waist tight black leggings with knee high black boots that had a small heel on them with her leather jacket over it, holding a black purse that had a leather bow on it. She ran a rushed hand through her straight hair letting a sigh out. She had dark eye shadow on the corner of her eyes making them stand out, the violet color seemed to glow. She came up to the bar and smiled; she pushed the doors open and took in the scent of the bar. For some reason it was soothing to her, the way that the air was filled with carelessness and clarity. It was quite crowded, just as it was the first time that she walked into this place but it wasn't like clubs were it was loud and had a crazy atmosphere. Actually it was quite nice, yeah there were some noises going on but for the most part it was as good as a bar could be, alternative music was playing in the background. She walked over to the bar to see a man serving drinks, the man that was her superior and teacher in the matter.

She smiled at him; he was a very handsome man. He was taller than her about a head taller, light skinned with dark black raven short spiky hair that matched her own in color with gauges on his ears. He dark grey eyes looked down at her for a moment before turning around to make another drink. He had tattoos on his face? A dark blue line that went from the left side of his cheek past the bridge of his nose and a '69' under his left eye. That must have been painful. He had a punk appearance about him, with his black cocker around his neck with matching wrist bands along with tight light blue ripped up jeans. He had a black T-shirt on that said 'The Casualties' on it in white lettering with a white outline of a guy with a Mohawk, over it was a jean vest with the sleeves cut off and ended at his ribcage with a pair of black converse that had writing on it. She stood at the end of the bar leaning on the bar counter top waiting to catch his attention so she could start her day of work. As if on cue he walked over casually throwing a rag over his shoulder walking towards her when he was in front of her he let out a smile.

"It's been a while, Kuchiki" he leaned forward placing a hand on the counter wresting all his weight on it. She raised an eyebrow before she looked closely at the man before her. "Don't tell me you've forgot me so easily". She started intently at him before she gasped.

"Hisagi!" she yelled as a smile spread across her face, she ran a hand through her hair fixing it. "What are you doing working here?"

"I'm the talent" he smiled as he opened the small gate of the bar as she walked in looking up into his grey eyes. Hisagi was a local here, he's in a band that was underground at the moment but was climbing the ladder up to stardom. Rukia did an article on him in the magazine _Rage_, and used to go to his shows and would try and make them whenever she had a chance. He gave guitar lessons at the college on the weekends along with bartending during the week, he often headlined at the bar whenever he could.

"Well, its nice to see you again" she smiled at him as she let a soft blush spread across her cheeks, he had this air about him that made her slightly nervous and shy.

"Likewise" he smiled down at her as she walked passed him putting her bag on one of the shelf's behind the bar and taking her jacket off placing it on her bag. She turned around and put her hands on her hips.

"So where do you want me tonight?" she smiled looking up at her handsome new co-worker.

"Any where as long as I can see you" he smiled as he walked away to take orders. She watched him walk away and smiled at his retreating figure. She turned around and started to make random drinks she heard people shouting out, it was simple she's made them all before it wasn't anything major.

Seeing Hisagi reminded her of Kaien, and how upset he was with her about her writings along with her interview with Hisagi. The day that she chose to write the article started a war, he was mad at her for wanting to spend time with another man, not even thinking about how she was drawn to his music. He never realized how important music was to her and that it was the only thing that meant more to her than he did. Her passion was music and art, and he was too selfish to see or care about that. When she met Hisagi, they had a deep conversation spending hours talking about music and there passions. Something she wasn't able to do with Kaien.

Kaien, even now she couldn't get him out of her head no matter what she did. It had been a week and a half now and every chance she had with to think it was always about him. She frowned, making drinks taking cash, pretending to listen to people's problems. Her eyes turned hollow as she remembered him again, those cold eyes that will never be forgotten. There was an ache in her chest that couldn't be settled, she longed to see him again, and longed for him to come back and call her saying he's sorry. She hoped he would regret leaving her, regret breaking her heart into the million pieces that now resided in her chest, regret taking her trust and honesty and slaughtering it before her eyes. She looked down at her ring less finger as she grabbed a glass from someone, why would he bother proposing to her if he didn't love her? Somewhere in his heart he did love her, or he does love her.

He left her. He looked deep into her eyes, saw her for who she really was and walked away from her as if she where nothing. How could he look at her and pass her by? What was wrong with her? This other woman couldn't possibly offer him more than she could and here she was, alone and lost. Such turmoil consumed everything, her smile for seeing Hisagi had died long ago. Agony never looked so beautiful on a person.

She turned around as she heard someone calling her over. Orange hair?

"Can I get you anything?" she asked her voice soft as her big hollow eyes seemed to shine under the red light. He was taken back as he gazed at her; his eyes widened a bit as she turned to look in his direction. He had a scowl on his face, but inside he was anxious.

He was wearing a dark brown sweater; it had thin black stripes going across with light grey skinny jeans, a chain wallet and black and white chucks. There was a black acoustic guitar on his back, the strap was black and white checkered and wrapped around his torso. His hands were carelessly in his sweater pocket leaning in to her over the bar counter. His bright orange hair was the only thing she seemed to be paying any attention to.

"Nah, I don't drink on the job" he casually noted as she was filling drinks for the girls next to him. She was going to comment when she realized that she recognized the boy, he was the one from the other night the one that was scowling at her. She just turned around and ignored him walking to the other side of the bar. He gazed at her retreating figure.

She was so beautiful up close in person, but she had a dark air about her. Wait, did she just ignore him? He raised an eyebrow at her as he watched her serve drinks; she was flawless in her movements. She was graceful how she moved. He stood there not moving just watching her.

His watchful eyes did not go unnoticed, every time she moved around or in his direction she noticed him looking directly at her no matter what part of the bar she was on or even if she was across the room serving drinks. His eyes followed her. She seemed so different. There was something about her that he couldn't put his finger on. She walked back to the bar and was talking to a girl next to Ichigo, when the conversation ended she felt irritated by the boy; she turned over and looked directly into his eyes leaning on the counter with both hands.

"Is there something I could help you with? I don't appreciate being watched" she said in a sharp tone as she watched his eyes opened wide in shock, he didn't expect her to approach him in that manner.

"I can't just enjoy the view?" he commented back, putting both his hands on the counter and leaning down, it was a challenge.

"Not when it's me" she growled, she hated the kind of guys that pick a girl up at a bar.

"Don't flatter yourself; I'm just confused as to why a minor like you is serving drinks in a bar. Don't you have a curfew?" he smirked as he saw her face. Her jaw dropped, her eyes widen in shock and all she saw was red. Before he had a chance to react her arm shot up and grabbed him by the collar of his sweater and yanked him down to her level.

"What did you say?" she growled, he could smell strawberry in her hair he was so close to her. His forehead was inches away from hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how hard it was to hear from way down here" a vein popped. She clenched her teeth together as she yanked him closer to her.

"You think you're cute don't you? Well I have some friendly advice, if you value having all of your limbs fully functioning I suggest you keep you and your ridiculous orange hair out of my sight" she shoved him back, away from her as she stood her ground glaring up at him. He was just floored that a girl stood up to him like that.

"A little feisty there, is that how you treat a customer?" he raised an eyebrow looking down at this girl.

"No, just to the ones that are obnoxious" she growled. Who did he think he was? She said not more than a couple of words to him and he ridiculed her on various accounts already. Some orange haired boy was making fun of her!

"Obnoxious? That's a little harsh for a first impression, I was just concerned about the well being of a minor." He smirked as he saw her glare.

"Minor? I'm probably older than you fool" she growled again, she was getting irritated by the second.

"I find that hard to believe pipsqueak" he saw her about to attack when a gentle hand touched her shoulder, she turned around only to face Hisagi who looked at the scene before her.

"Is there a problem Rukia?" he asked looking at her with concern in his eyes, she looked up and blushed feeling embarrassed for acting this way on the first day in front of Hisagi. She brought he hand up to tuck some hair behind her ear as she shyly looked up into his grey orbs.

"No, no problem at all" she smiled at him. The man who had just made fun of her moments ago nearly gasp at her beautiful face, when she smiled it was like everything around him disappeared and only that angelic smile existed. She brought her hand up to gently touch Hisagi's hand that was on her shoulder and made her exit to the other side of the bar.

Hisagi turned to the orange haired boy and raised an eyebrow to him.

"What? I just asked a simple question and she flew off the handle" he yelled in defense.

"Behave Ichigo, she's a nice girl" Hisagi said as he leaned on the counter turning around to watch her run around serving drinks to people. She stopped and ran a rushed hand through her hair before getting back to work.

"Nice? Tch more like evil, you should have seen how quick she was to threaten me!" he yelled. Hisagi just smirked.

"Maybe you deserved it"

"I don't think so, hopefully we'll have a better encounter soon" he watched her as he prepared to head for the stage, he will capture her attention in a good way now.

There was no way she was going to win this.


	3. Emptiness

Special thanks to all that reviewed[:

You guys are the reason I write3

Sepsis: haha, I'm glad you like him. trust me I love him as well3 and I added more Ichigo Rukia interactions so you can get a feel for him to[x

xdayanarax: Don't worry! I like love triangles as much as you there so interesting! And I will try and update sooner for you[:

Polaris-Sakura: Thank I'm really glad you did! I hope I could keep you as a fan as the story progresses[:

Rukes: first of I love your screenname[: and second I will add some GrimmRukia moments for you, I still don't know what couple I really want in the end to be honest lol[:

alero1990: thank you im glad you like it! I hope you will continue reading :D

Hese Solstis: Yay :D longest comment so far trust me I love it! the longer the better[: lol yeah I tired to stay true to Ichigo's overall character and that's him, covering up his feelings by being a jerk hah im SO glad you like it it means the world to me really[: and whoo knowwwss! Maybe IchiRuki might happen[x

pamianime: Haha I appreciate the comments for both chapters :D you gotta tell me who your rooting for as the story goes on so I know what to do! Ahhh im so happy that you called it 'Amazing' that made me really happy thank you[:

..

Ichigo was now behind the stage getting things hooked up for his performance. He should be thinking about what he was going to sing but all he could think about was that girl. She was so, intriguing. That smile, although wasn't meant for him was stuck in his mind. The way that warmth spread throughout his chest at the sight of her smile.

"Hey, how did things go with Nel yesterday?" Renji popped up out of no where grunting at being dragged to the club late at night.

"Huh?" Ichigo just looked up at him, he didn't hear a word Renji said his mind was filled with a raven haired midget he met just moments ago.

"Nel, female tall with long blue hair, model? Ringing any bells?" Renji felt the need to describe her due to the fact that Ichigo could have been with multiple girls the previous day.

"Oh I didn't see her" Ichigo went forward and was getting the drum set ready for Renji. Nel, was a friend of Ichigo's he would occasionally see her for dates whenever he didn't have anything lined up but she was far from a girlfriend, much to her dismay. She liked him a lot more then he would have liked but she was always there when he just needed a girl.

"How kind of you to blow her off again" Renji obviously disapproved of the way he treated girls as if they were nothing.

Of course he ignored his friend, he peaked outside of the curtain to stare at the girl that had so effortlessly capture his attention. He grunted out loud at the sight of her cozying up to her new bartender friend. She was fixing a drink and laughing, behind her Hisagi was ruffling her hair with his hand saying something charming he assumed. She was so friendly with him after only knowing him for a couple hours (He doesn't realize they knew each other prior to bar) but the same treatment wasn't given to him? He will capture her attention somehow.

..

"Really, I couldn't have another sir" Rukia smiled at the young man before her who had already bought her 3 shots added to all the other drinks she was being offered that night, good thing she could hold her liquor. She brought her hand up over her mouth as she giggled at the sight of his face. Suddenly she felt a strong hand on the top of her head as Hisagi walked up behind her.

"Smart choice, you remember what happened last time you had a couple of shots?" he smirked as she got flustered and brought her hands up trying to take his off her head but failed.

"That's not my fault! You dared me too! At least you got punched in the face" she laughed reminiscing. The man in front of her just blushed at the sight of her face.

"Come on, you could take it" he commented as Hisagi took the man's money and fixed a shot for her. She glared at the man behind her as she took the glass and gulped it down in seconds slamming it on the table as she ran a hand through her hair smirking at her victory. The man in front of her just hollered and clapped. Hisagi patted her back smiling at her accomplished face. She had this air about her that seemed to pull people in, something about her just dragged people into her gravity and she did it so effortlessly.

"Happy now?" she smirked as she leaned on the counter with her palms looking up at her friend.

"I will be tomorrow when you can barely get out of bed" he laughed as she groaned putting a hand on her forehead as if she was waiting for that un-welcomed headache to kick in.

"What nice friends I surround myself with" she remarked as she threw her washcloth at him running to the other side of the bar before he could retaliate. It was nice to have fun and not worry about her sadness.

She was filling drinks left and right getting tips and having a few laughs with complete strangers that she was never going to have to see again. Suddenly the lights went dim, the red lights almost completely off as all the people leaning on the bar turned around and looked at the only light in the room, the stage. Bright white flashed on the crimson curtains as she looked around at all the people focused on it. She just put down the glass and leaned on the bar on her elbows focused on what was going on.

Suddenly Matsumoto came on stage wearing knee length black shorts and a yellow frill top with matching heels wearing a huge smile. She got on and grabbed the microphone.

"Hey everyone, I hope you're ready for the live entertainment we promised you!" the crowed roared as Rukia slightly jumped at the reaction, everyone was excited. "With out further ado, Ichigo Kurosaki!"

The curtain opened and there was the same boy from early that made fun of her height, sitting on a stool with his acoustic guitar on his knee, a microphone pressed firmly against his lips. Behind him was a drummer with long red hair pulled into a low ponytail. Ichigo smirked slightly as he looked onto the crowd.

..

Music, it was the only way he could express his feelings. It was the language of his heart and he the simple radio that played it. He closed his eyes as he let guitar play, his fingers so effortlessly run up and down the neck of the guitar. He let the drum beat carry him far away. When he would sing, it was like his soul was escaping his body and for a moment a slight moment he felt understanding. He felt like he was being understood and all the weight on his chest was being lifted, but only for a second because that's all you have for perfection, one second. His dry lips parted.

"_Push me out from the darkness  
To a sky that's colored blue  
Somewhere someone's finding happiness  
While I'm still here so hung up on you  
_

Senna, it was only through music that he would ever admit to anyone that she left him with a gigantic hole in his heart that no one would be able to fill. She was off, happy and content with her life and he was here left with memories and pictures of her that he could never get rid of.

_Nothing is real  
And I want you to know  
That I'm not alright  
When you tear open my chest  
I'll try not to flinch  
I won't make promises  
I won't make promises  
You taught me that._

If only she could, if only she could tear his insides open and see the mess she had made in there. If only she could take a small glimpse of what she left behind in leaving him. His eyes slightly opened to reveal a hollow brown, the crowd cheering the music playing but his soul somewhere else. If he could only look beyond the crowd and see the broken hollow girl that gazed at him from afar.

_I'm still losing what's left of my self esteem  
And I'm still watching the slow fading of all my daydreams_

The hardest things to say are the words that mean the most  
So I'll bite my tongue til it bleeds and I doubt you'll even know  
The easiest things to fake are feelings to fool someone else  
And I've been tricked for so long by you that I spent these last few months in my own hell  


His words so powerful and so strong, his voice pierced through that ice covered heart and barrier that kept her from feeling the pain of what Kaien had did to her. His words the lyrics reminded her of how she felt, and she was understood. The song reminded her how easy it is to fake feelings, how easy it was for Kaien to lie to her and make her believed he loved her when he was just using her. It was so hard for her to tell him how she felt because the truth is so much harder than the lies.

_A failed apology  
A day too late but now I see  
That all you really want's to see me dangle neck first from a tree  
But what would you need me for  
You've got friends galore  
And all you've ever been to me is a waste of time and nothing more  
_

She bit her lips that's what Kaien thought of her, he stopped singing as the guitar was playing a solo. She was not going to cry. She was not going to let anyone know that this song and these words were going to have any impact on her at all._  
_

_Nothing is real (Nothing is real)  
and I want you to know (and I want you to know)  
That I'm not alright (That I'm not alright)  
When you tear (tear open my chest) open my chest  
(I'll try not to flinch) I'll try not to flinch  
(I won't make promises) I won't make promises  
(I won't make promises) You taught me that_

I hate myself  
For loving you like this  
And I hate myself for hating myself  
Just enough to love you  
Just enough to love you_"_

He was screaming at the end, his voice so perfect and flawless not a note out of place or off key. He looked down at the crowd as they cheered for him. His heart and soul back in the body again. He just had his usual scowl on as he heard Matsumoto rambling about something on the mic, the crowd got louder as the curtain closed leaving him there, whenever he sang a song about Senna it was opening the same wound.

"So, what's up with that shit?" Renji grunted putting the drum sticks down as Ichigo lifted an eyebrow looking back at him. "What shit?" he asked his red haired friend.

"I was on that stage too! Why do they only introduce you?" he growled as Ichigo smirked at him getting up placing his guitar on the side ignoring his obviously aggravated friend next to him.

..

Rukia's eyes were glued to the stage even after the dim red lights came back and the curtains closed. Had this boy looked directly into her soul and spoke the language of her heart? For the first time in weeks she felt like she wasn't alone in this war against heartbreak.

"Awe struck by my talent?" She was caught off guard as she turned to her left to see the very man she was thinking of. He was leaning on the bar with a blank expression on his face. She just looked at his face, it was the only way she could look at Kaien without having to see him. It hurt her but she couldn't help it. She had a sad blank expression as she stared at him before she turned and walked toward him.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that, I seemed to have lost my hearing from this god awful noise from moments ago" she wanted to laugh as his jaw almost dropped, his eye was twitching as he looked at this girl, she was full of surprises. "You didn't hear it? It sounded like someone was strangling a cat".

"I do not sound like a strangled cat!" he jumped up and slammed his hands on the bar counter with a face that reminded her of a kid pouting. She couldn't help it she laughed brought her hands up and covered her mouth as she laughed. He blushed from embarrassment as he secretly smiled inside for being able to make her laugh.

"So are you going to hook me up with a drink or continue to insult me?" he asked as she regained her composure pulling a glass before her.

"Continue to insult you, until I feel that we're even" she made a drink and gave it to the girl next to him as she slid a few bills on the table and walked away.

"Aw, are you still sour about earlier?" he asked leaned in closer on his elbows as she glared at him.

"You insulted my age, height, and hearing ability!" she growled.

"Well, obviously you do have a hearing problem if you confused that art up there with animal noises" he smiled as he watched her face scrunch up. She was a very strange one.

"What does a cocky pervert like you know about art?" she asked as she put one hand on her hip waiting for his answer.

"Pervert?" cocky, let's face it he knew he was guilty of that charge but pervert?

"'Rukia what ever you do don't get involved with that womanizer orange haired guitar player, he will eat you up and spit you out leaving you with nothing besides a broken heart and god knows what disease'" she mimicked the speech that Matsumoto had given her a couple of days ago when she called to inform Rukia of her work schedule. Again Ichigo had a shocked expression.

"Disease? Womanizer? Why is everyone out to paint such an ugly picture of me" he ran a frustrated hand through his hair, something Rukia thought only she did. "I can assure you I'm disease free I'm not stupid" he grunted trying to clear his name.

"So you're a smart man whore?" she asked watching as he grunted again, she loved how easy it was to mock such a complete stranger.

"Ugh, my impression is only going to get worse the more we continue this conversation isn't it?" he asked as he saw her amused face.

"Don't sweat it; you were never going to make it into my good graces anyways" she smirked in victory as she began to walk away, she was not going to get involved with someone that was going to so easily break her heart, so effortlessly capture her love and affection and drop her at the drop of a dime.

No, Rukia Kuchiki had learned her lesson and was not going to get caught in the tangled web of love. No Rukia Kuchiki was smart.

"Art, is an unspoken and undeniable understanding" his voice so stern and so serious she stopped in her tracks he eyes wide as she let him continue, "It speaks the language of a heart while everyone gets lost in translation, art is the only thing that anyone could understand, it gives color to all the grey area that we get mixed up in. Art, heals the soul with compassion and acceptance" she slowly started turning around to face the orange haired man.

"It's about taking risks and chances, completely cutting yourself open without fear of denial or betrayal"

Rukia Kuchiki was a smart girl, smart enough to know that sometimes in life it's ok to play with fire; she walked back over to the orange haired boy. Fully aware of what she was doing, fully aware that she should turn around and walk away. Yet she didn't.

…

"See yah Rukia" Hisagi said as he grabbed his bag. He had stacked up all the chairs on the tables and cleaned up the place as he pushed the door open not waiting for a response from her as he walked through the cold streets. The bar was now completely empty except for 3 people.

Rukia was washing a few more glasses still her back turned to the orange haired boy she spent all night talking to with a little bit of arguing thrown in the mix. She forgot he was behind her as she started asking herself why she was there with this boy.

"Hey what's that on your shoulder?" he asked as he realized there was a black markings peaking out from the side of her tank top. She lifted her head and looked to the right and looked down at her shoulder blade where a black line was visible. She looked back up at him.

"It's a tattoo?" she turned back to her dishes when she felt him get out of his seat and walked into the bar area and stood next to her rolling up his sleeves and grabbing dirty glasses and helped her clean, he knew if he offered her help she wouldn't have taken it.

"That's obvious, I mean what is it of?" he asked as he handed her wet dished to dry which she did. She sighed as she put it on the rack.

"It's a bird, well a sparrow." She remarked as her hair covered those eyes that he seemed so obsessed with.

"Why a bird?" she just had a sad smile hang from her as she ignored him completely and he seemed to understand that whatever it was it brought bad memories to her.

"If I tell you, I would have to kill you" she had a scary grin on her face as she looked up at him.

"I'm not afraid of a midget like you" he grinned.

"Well you should be, I'm a complete stranger what makes you think I'm not some kind of serial killer?" she threatened as she continued doing the dishes her voice so serious her face stern without a hint of joking. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe I'm the new Jack the Ripper and I want to rid this city of vial perverts" she smiled as she heard him grunt.

"How do all of our conversations end with me being a pervert?" he passed her the last glass as he used a town to dry his hands. She looked over at his tan forearms, they looked so strong. She mentally slapped herself as she dried the last glass.

"I don't know really? oh maybe it has to do with the fact that in one single night you flirted with flocks of girls and collected countless number in case you want a one night stand" She growled, she hated men like him that so carelessly take advantage of a woman's interest or compassion. He reminded her why she shouldn't be here with him.

Maybe that Jack the Ripper idea wasn't half bad.

"Jealous?" he asked smirking. Leaning back on the counter top as he watched her grab her leather jacket from the cabinet.

"Nope, just not surprised. You men are all the same" she slid the jacket on and tucked her hair out of it as she reached for her purse as he reached his hand inside his tight jeans and pulled out many slips of papers with numbers on them. She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him with a curious stare. With a smile he effortlessly ripped all of the sheets of papers into a million confetti pieces.

"Satisfied?" he asked as she looked at the piece of papers that lay on the floor. Why would he go and do that? What was he trying to prove? That it's ok if he looses these he could get more the next night if he wanted to.

"What are you trying to prove?" she just bluntly asked him, that was Rukia she didn't tip toe around anything.

"That I'm not most men." He stared into her deep violet blue eyes and was stunned. He was trying so hard to show her that he was an asshole but he didn't want to be around her for some reason. There was something about her that made him feel like he was wanted; he enjoyed her company a lot more than he thought he would.

He looked down at her; her giant eyes shimmered in the dim red light while her small elegant figure stood before him almost taunting him. Her skin so pale and soft that it almost shinned in the dim light, had he ever craved a girl so much? Her lips, slightly parted were so full and soft looking he wanted so badly to reach out and caress them with his callous thumb.

"It doesn't matter" she commented back as she grabbed her bag and started heading for the door passing the orange haired boy without glancing back. "I told you, you're never getting in my good graces" she wasn't trying to be mean. She just realized letting him in would only hurt her, and she was the only person that could protect herself since no one else would. The world was just a cut throat place. She turned around before she left to look at him as he turned to look at her. She was having a battle within herself, cut herself open and possibly find happiness? Or risk the chance of another unneeded broken heart.

"Maybe I don't want to be in your good graces" she stopped and turned around and raised an eyebrow at him, if he didn't want to be in her good graces then why would he rip up all those numbers he got? He smirked as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Maybe, I just enjoy your company and I don't want you thinking I'm some kind of monster. That I genuinely want to get to know you and have you know the real me" she was floored. She stared at him wide eyed. She barely met him yet he was so forward so honest to her.

She felt her heart race as she looked down at the ground in front of her bashful and feeling bad for calling him so many mean names.

Maybe he wasn't as bad as she made him out to be…

"Hah I only did it because those girls were at least a 7 not even worth the effort of taking there numbers home with me, plus you can't leave until you clean up this mess of paper" he grinned at her as he saw her face red with anger she marched over and threw her purse square at his face causing him to fall on the floor laughing at her as she screamed profanities at him red with embarresment.

Then again, maybe he was much much worse than she gave him credit for..

…

So what do you think[:?

Please review your opinions mean a lot to me!

I work well with constructive criticism and love to hear what you like about my stores it really motivates me to update sooner3

And I love it when you guys give me ideas; I kinda write it as I go along[x

And the song is 'Just enough to love you' by: Bayside if you want to listen to it! I'm just pretending that they write the songs cause I'm not nearly creative enough to make up my own, so if you recommend any songs for the story I would GREATLY appreciate it :D


	4. Mourning

It was dark and quiet in her room. Three in the morning and she still could not sleep, wrapped in dark violet covers. Giant violet orbs half open as they stared at the easel across the room that in the moonlight all you could see is a dark blanket draped over it. Her pupils moved to look at the bright red numbers on the clock that told her she should be in bed by now. All these sleepless nights made her feel empty and cold.

She was curled on her side with her hands placed in front of her wrists up her eyes scanning her fingertips as they twitched from the cold.

A void, there was a void in her heart something important was missing and it was the most vital part of her heart and a moment could not go by without realizing it was missing.

It wasn't fair, here she was lying in bed with only her sorrow to keep her company and somewhere over seas Kaien was lying in his, with Miyako curled up against his stomach falling asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

How could her heart keep beating even though they have been dead for a while?

She wasn't bitter, she wasn't even angry anymore. All she had left to blame was herself. He didn't love her and it was not his fault. He wanted to love her, he wanted to be happy with her but, and he couldn't. Somewhere in his heart he always knew he didn't love her but he never knew what love was until he met Miyako.

Sometimes you meet the love of your life but you already chose to spend the rest of your life with someone else.

Suddenly her phone started vibrating from the corner of her bed just a few inches away from her hand. Her body lay still only her eyes looked up to the bright light of the screen.

'Incoming call: Kaien' she didn't even flinch when she saw it ringing; he had called 3 times tonight which is probably another reason she was still awake.

She wasn't strong enough to answer it, she didn't have the guts. She let it vibrate and vibrate until the screen turned off and the comforting darkness settled in again. She let out a sigh; hopefully it was the last time he would call for the night.

It vibrated once to show she had a voicemail as she finally reached forward as fast as she could and pressed it to her ear; she just had to hear his voice just once more. She gulped as she heard the phone say she had a new message waiting until she heard the beep that signaled his voicemail.

"Hey Rukia, you left behind some things here that I thought you might miss. I sent them to Grimmjow's because I assume that's where you are. I- uh- well…." God, his voice made her heart so warm. For a second there was a sign of life spread across her face as she waited for him to continue after his long pause.

"I hope that your doing okay, you know, taking care of yourself and.. staying out of trouble. I-uh.. Its different here, and I haven't heard from you in a couple weeks and I was just a little worried…" she closed her eyes as she pressed the phone closer to her ear pretending he was actually talking to her and this wasn't a voicemail. Even the sound of him breathing on the phone was the most comforting sound in the world.

"We'll I have to go, take care of yourself Rukia" the voicemail ended. She didn't feel like crying. She spend two weeks crying, maybe she was all dried up.

He still cared about her. Why couldn't she just hate him? Why couldn't he just be an asshole and tell her she wasn't good enough for him and needed to move on? Why did he have to be so kind to her, further proving that it wasn't his fault. That it was all her fault.

She clicked replay on the message and pressed it to her ear again just to listen to his voice again. She replayed it many many times.

She just wanted to fall asleep to the sound of his voice. Shortly after she feel asleep with a sad smile on her face.

..

"Rukia Shiba, it sounds way better than Kuchiki! You don't need that name defining you" Kaien smiled as he leaned over resting his head on his partners' stomach. A habit he had. He smiled as he looked up at her.

She was lying down on the bed her head pressed against the pillows. Her giant eyes so bright and vibrant as she laughed at him. She was wearing a skin tight white tank top and her black underwear that looked like tiny skintight cotton shorts. Her hair carelessly framing her face as she looked down at him, wearing only his sweat pants curled up so the side of his face was pressed against her stomach looking up at her.

"Hah why can't I just be Rukia Shiba-Kuchiki?" she playfully asked as she ran a hand through his dark hair, his beautiful green eyes examining her.

"Because your mine" he smiled as he kissed the soft pale skin exposed between the shirt and underwear earning him a giggle from her soft lips.

Kaien, when Rukia started attending high school everyone just knew her as the Kuchiki and never treated her the same. Her brother was so well known it was impossible to go anywhere without getting special treatment. But he, he only saw her as Rukia. His Rukia.

"And your mine?" she asked letting her fingers touch the soft skin of his cheeks.

"Forever and beyond" he closed his eyes, taking in the most perfect moment of his life. Her eyes went wide as he said that, her heart had never felt so warm before. Life had never been this perfect before. Yes she was away from her friends and family but that didn't matter, because nothing compared to Kaien. She would follow him to the end of the earth.

"Rukia," his voice serious along with his eyes as he sat up his back turned toward her as she got nervous and sat up leaning against the headboard of there bed.

"Where do you think your heart rests?" he asked in a serious tone. His face still couldn't be seen by her as she looked up thinking if it was a trick question before placing her hand on her chest.

"Somewhere right here?" she answered. He turned around and looked into her eyes before placing a fist in between them, turning his torso over leaving his legs hang off the bed.

"Its right here" he smiled as he saw her eyes wide in fascination listening to him. Her eyes focused on his fist as she imagined him grasping a heart.

"Every time you and I connect with each other, a little bit of heart is born between us. Heart isn't something inside you. But whenever you think, whenever you remember someone, that's when heart is born. If you were the only one alive in the whole world, heart wouldn't exist now, would it?" he grinned at her as he saw her smile at him, a soft smile. She brought both her hands up and cupped his fist.

"This is our heart?" she asked, mostly herself as she leaned forward slowly. His aqua eyes followed her with curiosity; her small hands around his fists were so soft and gentle. Suddenly she planted a kiss on his fist as her hands tightened around his.

"This is my heart," she smiled into his fist as she closed her eyes, this moment would be one that she would remember for the rest of her life.

"This is the heart that keeps me alive, not the one in my chest." Her lips brushing up against his knuckles as she spoke, "This heart pumps the blood in my veins I need to stay alive, this heart is what makes me warm, what makes me love" she planted another kiss on his knuckles as she lifted her face up, her chin rest lightly on there joined hands. Her eyes half open shimmering in the light of the morning pouring into there window.

"If this heart were to stop beating, I would die" she had a sad smile on her face because it was true, if there love where to die so would she. Before she could say anything else the fist that was in between her hands moved. Both his big strong hands cupped her soft pale cheeks and pushed her face into his kissing her.

Her eyes were wide as his thumb rubbed her cheeks. His eyes closed, he was filled with passion for this small woman. She blinked before closing her eyes and bringing her hand up to lightly press against his bare chest. He pulled away to look into her eyes, his half open with a small smile but still close enough to lightly brush his lips against hers when he spoke. His hand moved to his chest to grab her hand that was rested on his heart. His hand tightened around hers as he opened his mouth.

"Rukia I want to leave you my heart," his lips captured hers again as he slightly leaned away to speak again, "If anything where to happen to me, I want to leave it to you because there's no one in the world I would rather pass it on to then you" he kissed her again, such a tender kiss. His other hand brought up to pinch her chin pulling her into the kiss further.

"I love you Rukia" nothing in the world could ever amount to the joy she felt in her heart when she heard these words.

"I love you Kaien, far more than you would ever understand" because she did, there were no words to describe how much she loved him. Even the word love was far to childish to describe this feeling that rested in her chest. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers again before pulling away to look at her face.

"I do understand, because I feel it too." He chucked as he saw her eyes light up, "You're the girl that people thrive for, and your heart is filled with kindness. Your willing to give so much Rukia, its admirable." He smiled as he saw her close her eyes fighting tears of happiness.

"Your strong, nothing in the world could break you down." He kissed the corner of her eye where he could almost taste the salty tears threatening to fall before he pulled away again.

"You have this gravity that pulls everyone into your orbit, pulls them in so close that they could never dream of living without you in there life" he pulled back and kissed the spot between her brows bringing the hand on her chin to let his fingertips touch her chest.

"Don't lose that Rukia, don't change anything about yourself. Your perfect" he pulled away completely to look at her, "and your mine" he smiled.

Who knew that life could be so perfect? That one moment could be so burned into your memory it was as if it was happening all over again. But that's all you could expect from pure happiness, a moment.

Once everything was as perfect as you could imagine it, there was no where left to go than down.

…

She opened her eyes slowly to look into the dark room once again. How could things have gotten so horrible? How did things go from such bliss to such misery?

She looked at the easel again, it was taunting her. Mocking her with that blanket wrapped around it. She grunted as she jumped out of the bed. She walked toward it, turning the light on as she headed to it. She stopped as she was right in front of it, there was a silent battle taking place as she closed her eyes and grabbed the blanket tossing it on the floor as she gazed at the painting she did.

It was vertical; there was a pair of small white hands on the very bottom that looked like they were lightly cupping something. Right above the hands in the middle of the painting was what looked like a decaying heart, there were ashes falling off the bottom of the heart that were being caught in the small white palms. It was crumbling, that black decaying heart was crumbling into the hands that so desperately trying to catch all the pieces.

Because that's what was happening, their heart was crumbling down just like her life. And she was the only one trying to put it back together. She was catching the falling pieces and trying to bring them together again. She stepped back a little bit and sat down on the edge of her bed looking at the art in front of her.

She looked down at her black band shirt that was now covered in paint, her legs completely exposed from under the shirt; she was only wearing her small purple stripped underwear under that shirt.

She ran a hand through her messy black hair as she continued to stare at it. She didn't even jump as the door opened revealing a shirtless Grimmjow wearing nothing but his long dark green cotton pants.

"What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?" he was scratching the back of his neck, his eyes still half closed with sleep as he saw her sad small figure. She just looked up into his face, and he knew. He walked over and sat next to her looking at her art. She turned her head and looked at her soft pale thighs putting her fingers on them.

"I had a lot on my mind" she said in her soft voice not making eye contact with him.

"Don't you always" he grunted leaning back resting all his weight on the palms of his hands. "So when are you going to stop all this mourning?" he asked staring at the back of her head. She closed her eyes and sighed before flopping backwards staring at the ceiling with a blank expression.

"Feels like never" she brought a hand up to cover her eyes groaning at the light, how long has she been staying in the dark for?

"Everything is crumbling down, do you know I woke up this morning and when I looked in the mirror I could hardly recognize myself? I looked directly in the mirror and all I saw were these dead eyes," she paused listening to these words as they were coming out of her mouth. Its one thing to realize something, it's another thing to admit it saying it out loud.

"I don't even know who I am anymore. It's like the biggest part of me that made me well, me was taken away and I'm mimicking that person. Like I'm pretending to be Rukia" It was true, she was stuck following the footsteps of who she wanted to be. She wanted to be the her that Kaien saw, the perfect girl that he used to love and never want to leave.

"Your saying since you've been here there hasn't been one moment where you just let go? Where you just so casually been the you that you loved?" he asked looking at the ceiling. Was her being here not doing anything for her?

She closed her eyes thinking when suddenly bright orange filled her mind.

She was effortlessly Rukia when she was with him. It was only one night, not even a full night and she laughed at him, she mocked him, she gave him one of her smiles, and her heart raced as she tried to walk out the door. Being herself was as easy as breathing when she was next to him. She smiled a little thinking about him, he was so strange.

"I'm going to take that smile as a yes" he grinned looking down at her with an eyebrow raised.

"I just met someone interesting is all"

"Oh?" he was very very interested but tried to play it off like he didn't care.

"Yeah, some orange haired idiot" she smiled. The room when silent her eyes were closed. Before she could comprehend what happened she felt Grimmjow get off the bed and effortlessly grab her by the arm and flipped her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her hip pressed against his cheek as she yelped.

"What is the meaning of this!" she yelled trying to pull her self up by pressing her hands on his shoulders trying to turn around but his right hand was on her lower back keeping her from moving it from his shoulderblade. He walked out of her room and out the front door without turning around.

"Grimm! I'm not even wearing shorts!" she yelled flopping back down to bring both her hands to her down to try and pull her shirt down lower to hid her indecent bottom. She blushed when she realized the shirt was to short and part of her back and hips were exposed to the cold of the night.

"Trust me I doubt anyone wants to see that" he grumbled before being smacked in the head by one of her hands.

"Shut up! And put me down!" she demanded when she realized they were going down a flight of stairs.

"Be quite, most normal people are trying to sleep right now"

"Normal? Are you suggesting I'm not normal!" she yelled, not listening to him at all apparently.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" a slight breeze picked up and he felt her shiver in his grasp.

"Put me down!" she yelled as her teeth grinded together in anger. Suddenly they stopped moving it was still to dark for her to see where they had made it to.

"Your wish is my command" she could hear him grinning when he spoke. Suddenly he grabbed her by the back of her shirt and tossed her forward, she closed her eyes awaiting a hard impact on sturdy ground but met a worse fate. She feel into the cold water of the pool. She fell completely under before jumping out yelling.

"What the hell Grimm! It's like 20 degrees in this pool!" the only warmth she had was the anger boiling in her chest.

"I needed to knock some sense into you, I think you were possessed or something you were talking nonsense about that orange haired nuisance" he ran a hand threw his hair watching her shiver in the pool before scrunching her face and then smiling.

"Jealously isn't a good look for you Grimm" she chucked as she saw him glare at her.

"You went through all this trouble to toss me in a pool?" she looked around at the water keeping herself above the surface as he sat down Indian style next to the pool.

"I felt the need to punish you for having such a sinful thought" he grumbled.

"Am I not aloud to be interested in other men?" she asked as he sighed again.

"Not when there Ichigo"

"So you know him well?" she asked she couldn't contain her curiosity. She wasn't in love or puppy love or anything like that, she just enjoyed his company regardless of the fact that he was a gigantic ass.

"Remember that broken jaw senior year? When you fed me vanilla pudding for 3 weeks?" he looked to the side at the moon coming up when he heard her gasp.

"That was Ichigo!" she yelled remembering how pissed she was that someone had hurt Grimmjow and swore revenge on who ever did him harm. He just grumbled in response.

"Aww, don't worry you know you're the only man for me Grimm" she smiled as she watched him frustrated, it was so cute to watch how he just cared so much about her but didn't want to admit it.

"I know, don't forget that" he finally looked at her; her dark raven hair clung to her face as her giant eyes glowed in the moonlight. She smiled as she swam toward him leaning on the edge of the pool on her elbows, his knees on the top of her elbows as she lifted her head up so it was only a foot under his chin as he looked down at her.

"I have seen the error of my ways, can I get out now?" she asked with a puppy dog face.

"hmm nope, you don't realize what a huge sin you committed in considering that male as anything more than an annoying cockroach" yup, he was definitely jealous.

"Alright, Alright, whenever I see him I promise I will imagine a giant cockroach and nothing more" she brought her hand up in front of her extending her pinky with a smile on her face as he was still pouting.

"Kiss on it?" he asked leaning down pushing her hand away from in-between them. She blinked before sighing. She brought her hand up cupping his cheek bringing his face down to hers. He closed his eyes and began to lean down when the hand on his cheek moved to the back of his neck..rather roughly.. Before he knew it both her hands were around his neck and pulling him into the pool. The only thing that could be heard was a huge splash and a loud laughter. He slowly rose from under the water with an annoyed glare, one that screamed revenge and she caught it. she turned around and darted for the ladder to get out of the pool but before she could reach it a hand grabbed her ankle dragging her back.

"Now that wasn't very nice" she tried to swim out of his grasp but to no avail as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and dunked her under the water and felt her squirm before bringing her back up as she gasped for breathe.

"Are you trying to kill me!" she yelled turning around his arms wrapped loosely around her waist as she was growling looking up at him before she jumped up pressing her hands on the top of his head with all her might trying to push him underwater but nothing happening.

"Sink damn you!" she growled trying harder to press him under as he placed his hands on the back of her thigh to keep her up.

"May I ask what you hope to accomplish?" he sarcastically remarked as he heard her huffing and puffing before she gave up and rested on his head crossing her elbows on the top of his head and leaning on them with a glare.

"You're a prick you know that?" he just chuckled.

"So I've been told" she smiled into her arms, maybe she was the same Rukia. Maybe it was just hard to be that person.

"So do you feel any better?" he asked her grabbing her by the waist and pulling her off his head and back into the water to look into her eyes.

"I'm outside in the cold at the butt crack of dawn freezing my ass of in the pool" she glared at him before jumping forward wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling.

"And I've never felt better" he smirked as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight. "How do you know how to make me feel better?" she asked smiling against the nape of his neck.

"Years and years of being forced to be your friend" she chucked before he pulled away to look into her eyes before leaning forward, his forehead rested against her's letting out a deep sigh.

"I just wish that you could let go, realize that there are things in this world that you have no control over" her tightened his hold around her as she closed her eyes. "There's no use blaming yourself for the things that are out of your grasp, the only thing you can control is how you react to those things and mourning all day isn't going to bring him back. It's only going to make it harder for you to let him go"

Her eyes got wide as she let his words sink in. Maybe she just needed to stop. Maybe that heart she was so desperately trying to hold together was meant to fall.

Maybe she needed to step back and watch as it falls, shatters and leave the broken pieces behind.

"Thank you Grimm" she smiled, a true honest smile before he pulled away and started swimming across the other end of the pool. She blinked as she watched him swimming away from her and stopped at the other end of the pool before shouting at her.

"Marco!" she started laughing at the childish mentality her dear friend had, he was such an idiot.

"Polo!" she yelled before swimming underwater. Great friends were hard to come by.

..

"Are you expecting someone?" Hisagi asked raising an eyebrow at Rukia who was intently staring at the crowd in between the drinks she was making. She was standing wearing her black, grey, and purple flannel button up with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows with dark grey skinny jeans that seemed to show off her new shape, with a pair of black and white chucks. Very casual today. She looked back at him and ran a hand threw her hair.

"No, not at all" she lied, she was on the lookout for her new orange haired friend that she promised to stay away from, well it wasn't a promise really, he never pinky promised her. yeah, she wasn't disobeying Grimm because she never promised him.

"Ichigo isn't coming in today" He smiled as he saw her perk up with interest before blushing at his amused gaze. She wanted to ask why but didn't want him to think she was at all interested in him.

"His sister has soccer games every Friday, we just have random people play when he's not in" she turned back to her work as she smiled.

How cute, he still went to his sisters games even though he was as old as he was. the fact that he was a heartbreaker always seemed to slip her mind.

"I don't care where that womanizer is" she grunted, then again the thought would eventually make its way into her mind and the act of vomiting would come into her mind.

"I'm sure" he smirked walking away to get to work leaving her to yell at his back grumbling. She looked to her right to a sad looking woman leaning on the bar on her elbows staring at her empty glass; Rukia took this as a que.

Rukia walked up to her and blushed, this woman was so gorgeous. She was tall; she had exotic teal blue hair that feel in waves around her body with soft grey-brown irises that seemed to shine in the lighting. She was wearing short black shorts with a red belt, and way above that was a black tight leather vest that zipped dangerously low and a short black jacket. Her skin was so flawless and so radiant, her waist completely exposed seem to shine as the light hit it. Rukia couldn't hide her blush as she approached her.

"H-Hello, is there anything I could get you?" she was intimidated to walk up to such a radiant creature. The girl lifted her head up and smiled what a beautiful and flawless face she had.

"No thank you, I'm just waiting for someone is all" she closed her eyes and gave Rukia smile. It seemed like a sad smile.

"I don't mean to pry, but is everything alright?" Rukia asked in a soft tone as the girl perked her head up fast to look at Rukia who smiled.

"Call it bartender's intuition" the teal haired girl laughed as she sat straight up.

"I'm just having men problems" she looked down at her empty glass as she ran her finger around the rim as Rukia looked startled, how could a girl like her have men problems?

"What kind of men problems could you possibly have?" Rukia wasn't good at containing her shock which earned her a soft laugh from the gorgeous creature.

"I care a lot about a man that doesn't return the same affection" Rukia was baffled by this women's honesty. She just met her, just moments ago and she wasn't afraid of being judged by Rukia.

"Then he's an idiot" Rukia grumbled grabbing a bottle of liquor and effortlessly pouring it into the glass before the poor girl, "On me" Rukia smiled before putting the bottle down and leaning on the bar.

"He's not always like that. He has a really kind heart that I've never seen before in a person" she took a drink before smiling slightly and noticing something about the small petite bartender in front of her.

"Your engaged?" the woman asked before Rukia jumped to look down at her hand. Yes, she didn't have the heart to take the ring off. It was a sign that she used to be loved.

"I a-" before she could finish her sentence a tall towering male leaned over next to the blue haired lady. He leaned in and Rukia gasped.

"Grimm! What are you doing here?" He smirked at her from under the dim red lights. He looked a lot more handsome after just getting done with one of his shoots. She blushed at the sight of him. He was wearing a skin tight navy blue tee shirt with a black leather jacket over it with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, hands in the pocket's showing off his light jeans were the brown belt could be visible. He smirked as he looked at the girl next to him.

"What the fuck are you doing here Nel?" he raised an eyebrow to the girl beside him as she put on an elegant smirk, Rukia was baffled that Grimmjow had known this beautiful female.

"Good to see you too Grimmjow" she put her elbow on the table and rested her head on it to the side facing him.

"Aren't you supposed to be in London?" he asked hunched over slightly looking between Rukia and Nel.

"I was, but I decided to go back to school" she smiled, Rukia was baffled. This beautiful girl before her was passing on a trip to such a place for school? It was very admirable.

"That's fucking stupid" he grunted as Rukia groaned.

"No it isnt!" she yelled before turning to Nel, "I think its amazing that your putting school before modeling, it takes real smarts to go back to school, a lot of people now and days seem to be lacking that" she glanced at Grimmjow as Nel giggled.

"I'm glad you think so umm?" Rukia jumped when she asked that realizing she never introduced herself.

"Oh Rukia, Rukia Kuchiki" Nel smiled as she brought her hand out to shake Rukia's, "Nel" she simply said before shaking hands with her before Grimmjow grunted.

"Is there something I could help you with Grimm?" Rukia let go of Nel's hand and turned to face her fellow friend who had an annoyed expression.

"Don't ignore me for her" he said, she laughed at how childish he sounded. He just wanted attention from her like a small child would. Nel smiled at this.

"Well then, what made you decide to grace us with your presence?" she asked before filling up a drink for him and passing it in his direction and watched as he wore an amused expression.

"You'll see" she raised an eyebrow when just at that moment the lights dimmed and bright white lights filled the stage when Matsumoto came up wearing her usual overly happy smile, she was wearing a skin tight white dress that had frills on the front of it. Rukia was confused at to what was going on.

"Hello everybody, well as you know are usual performers are out today but I want you all to nice to our new special guest" her voice got high as the crowed roared and Rukia perked up, "Our adorable bartender, Rukia Kuchiki!" the crowd got loud as every one turned in her direction, she blushed as she looked up at Grimm.

"Go get 'em midget" he smiled as he put a hand on her back and gently pushed her to the end of the bar. She stumbled but walked to the back of the stage where she ran into Matsumoto who was thrilled.

"Rukia! I'm glad you got the announcement! Your boyfriend was kind enough to give us a cd of one of your songs so you can do that one" she smiled with excitement as she hugged her petite bartender who wore an annoyed expression.

"How kind of him" she grumbled.

"I know! He said you needed to vent or something about that" she smiled again pushing Rukia to the center of the stage, the curtains still have not risen so it was dark as Rukia looked back at her boss.

"Don't be scared Rukia! It will be okay" she smiled before she caught a glimpse of a smile on the corner of Rukia's face.

"I'm not, art is about cutting yourself open without fear of denial" a warm feeling spread across her chest as she repeated the words that a strange boy had said to her before. She was in the middle of the stage when she grasped the microphone in her hands tight.

This unhealed heart of hers was going to have it's say.

..

A phone vibrated in Ichigo's pocket as he was only a couple of seconds away from the bar that he was anxious to go in.

He carelessly flipped his phone open and pressed it to his ear as he lifted up the black sleeves of his black long sleeved shirt. "Hello?" he didn't bother looking at who was calling he just carelessly answered it.

"Brother! What happened? you didn't stay for the ice cream celebration!" Yuzu, his little sister was yelling through the other end of the phone and Ichigo couldn't help but smile at how childish she still acted.

"I'm sorry Yuzu don't worry tell Karin I will make it up to her" He smiled as he saw the bar come into view, oh how badly he wanted to see the small female he ran into earlier. He had never been so anxious to see a girl before.

"What's more important than your family!" she cried out before he stopped at the entrance. He fixed his hair and cleared his throat.

"I'll tell you all about it late Yuzu I promise, but I have to go now" he said when he heard her pout for a brief moment before complying.

"Alright, behave big brother. Bye!" she yelled before hanging up. He walked into the silent bar, wait silent?

He looked around and saw that it was dim, and all the lights were focused on the stage as the crowd went silent to hear the live music of the night. He marched to the bar and looked around but there was no sign of the girl that had so simply captured his affection. He saw Nel at the end of the bar and slightly jumped, he completely forgot that a week prior to meeting Rukia he promised to go out with Nel. He scrunched down at the end of the bar, the last thing he wanted was to have Rukia witness him breaking a girls heart.

He really cared about what she thought of him. he felt bad for being a jerk to her the other day when he probably should have been more of a prince charming. But he didn't want to be to honest with her, she might not be able to be trusted.

He let out a deep sigh of defeat when he gave up, he realized that she probably wasn't in. Just at that moment the curtains opened up as he turned around to leave the bar.

"Keep in mind I'm new, so no making fun of me"

He spun around as fast as he could, there she was. She was on the stage alone, she was wearing a very casual outfit but even in that she looked so captivating. Her small slender figure was so cute, and gave him the urge to scope her up in his arms and protect her, shield her from all that was wrong in the world. He leaned his back on the wall right next to the door, he wanted to see what she was made of.

Suddenly the music started as he watched her take a deep breathe, and close her eyes before the singing came up. She was taking in the moment, unlike Ichigo, when she would sing from her heart she let the emotions enfold her. She let the feelings sink in so that all that she sung was pure raw emotions.

She smirked when she realized what song Grimmjow picked, he knew her way more than she knew herself.

..

She parted her moist glossy lips and swayed to the side slightly as she closed her eyes.

_My dear  
Take what you want from me  
I'll give you anything  
Just don't leave me on my own  
Desperate and destitute  
A shadow of the former self I knew  
_

A guitar sound kicked in as she opened he eyes, oh how these words were so powerful to her, how they related to her in many ways. She loved Kaien, she was never going to stop. It's easy for Grimmjow to tell her to move on because he wasn't in her shoes. She wanted him back, she could look past all that he had done to her if she could only have him.

_Take what you want from me  
I'll give you anything  
It's so pathetic, I make myself sick  
I can't get over you, I can't get over any of this_

She was, she was pathetic for being this dead, for mourning all of her days because she just wanted him back. This was not Rukia, Rukia was as strong woman that could take care of herself but now. She was a pathetic girl that couldn't move on.

Ichigo stared at her as he realized, this wasn't just a song she liked to sing. This was a song that meant a lot to her. Her eyes where opened as she had her hand gripped tightly over her heart as her voiced carried out throughout the place. Her other hand was tightly around the mic.

_My dear  
Is this really happening?  
Do these tears mean anything?  
How can you leave me on my own?  
Desperate and destitute_  
_These seconds feel like lifetimes without you_

Her hand then moved up to her head as she grabbed a handful of her hair singing in a loud voice, her eyes closed as her mouth was wide open singing her heart out. Kaien filled her mind, as he eyes were closed she could see him, it was as if she was asking him all these questions and demanding an answer for him.

_Take what you want from me  
I'll give you anything  
It's so pathetic, I make myself sick  
I can't get over you, I can't get over any of this  
_

Ichigo smiled at her, she never seemed to stop amazing him. She was like a puzzle to him, she was so hard to figure out. but little by little he was finding pieces and as he placed them together a beautiful picture was being made, and he so desperately wanted to put the pieces together and figure out the puzzle that was Rukia.

_I never thought I'd be the one with the weakness  
You call the shots, while I stay up at night sleepless  
It's so pathetic, I make myself sick  
I can't get over you, I can't get over any of  
_

She closed her eyes, pulling her eyebrows together in agony as she sang her heart out, she wanted to give it her all and pour out everything on that stage. Maybe if she let it go, if she just let go of her self pity and admitted it to herself and all the people before just maybe the weight on her heart will be lifted. 

_Take what you want from me  
I'll give you anything  
It's so pathetic, I make myself sick  
I can't get over you, I can't get over any of this_

She couldn't get over him, none of this was going to be a distant memory or dream, it was a scar that was placed over hear heart. Never to be forgotten never to slip her mind. This pain was like a still frame photograph that could never burn, never be anything.

_I never thought I'd be the one with the weakness  
You call the shots, while I stay up at night sleepless  
It's so pathetic, I make myself sick  
I can't get over you, I can't get over any of_

The music started to die down as the crowd roared. She finally opened her eyes at the crowd before her and was astonished to see so many people cheering her on and hollering. She just smiled a wide smile at them.

"Thank you," she mumbled into the microphone threw her grinning face. She felt so happy right now in this moment, like there was a little ball of sunshine in her heart that she couldn't shake off. The curtains closed leaving her in the dark of backstage, but she closed her eyes and took a breathe remembering this feeling that she loved. She was slightly out of breath as she huffed slightly but none the less grinning. Grimmjow was an amazing man.

..

Ichigo was stunned as the curtains closed, his heart was racing as he saw her smile. How has a girl this interesting, this beautiful slip by him? She was broken, yet so strong, the way she could embrace her pain and sorrow and be content with it..

He realized that this song she sang, it was something from the heart, much like the music he sang. It was raw emotion, she fearlessly shared her pain to tons of strangers without a second thought. On that stage, she brought down that wall that he knew she held up against him and everyone here, and he was hypnotized.

How could someone out there wish to hurt this beautiful creature? How could someone look this girl in the eye and deny her? he felt anger and jealousy in the pit of his chest at the thought of her being with another man who could not respect or love her like she deserved to be loved. That someone out there was lucky enough to have such a woman in his arms, and just turned away from her leaving her with this feeling that she did not deserve.

More importantly, why did he care so much? Even if he did some chance have the opportunity to be with her, what would he do?

What if he's just infatuated with her and that dies once he gets her? like all the others?

What if she isn't good enough to fill that void that Senna had left him? What if he ends up scaring her more that what she deserves…

All he knew was that slowly, very slowly, Rukia Kuchiki was stealing his heart.

…

Rukia walked back to the bar getting a lot of comments and feedback from people as she passed. She went behind the bar and walked over to Grimmjow who was still in his same spot with a wide grin spread across his face. she just smirked in return. They stood there in silence looking into each other's eyes. She didn't know how she could thank him, how she could possibly tell him that if it wasn't for him she would feel alone in the world. She opened her mouth to say something.

Before she could speak he had brought a hand behind her head pulling her toward him catching her off guard as she stumbled forward, suddenly warm comforting lips made contact with her exposed forehead. She blushed madly as he stood there, his eyes half open, his hand gently placed in between some strands of her hair. It was a picture perfect moment as he slightly pulled back his lips brushing against her forehead as he mumbled.

"I'm proud of you," her heart began to race, she wasn't good enough for Kaien and nothing she did could bring him back yet, here she was making someone proud. She did something right. She was able to accomplish something without his love, without his help, she didn't need Kaien to be happy. She smiled taking in the intoxicating scent of Grimmjow as she placed her hand on his chest about to push him back. But didn't, and she didn't know why…

What she didn't notice was the orange haired man observing the scene before storming off.

..

What do you guys think?

Thank you so much for the reviews they mean so much to me especially since I'm trying really hard on this story!

What do you think about Grimm? Or Kaien?

What would you like to see more of[:?


	5. Broken

"Ichigo where are you going?" Nel cried out. She was clapping for Rukia watching her and Grimmjow's exchange when out of the corner of her eye she noticed orange hair storm out of the bar. She ran out behind him and found him stomping down the street, sulking from the looks of it.

"I needed some fresh air" he commented in a deep voice with his back still turned towards her as she tried to catch up to him.

"But you just barely walked in" she commented raising an eyebrow as she finally caught up to him and noticed his usual scowl was placed but his eyes seemed so mean. He slid his hands roughly in his pocket trying to shake off his childish attitude.

"Yeah I know, the atmosphere was a little dense for my liking" he mumbled trying to say some random excuse that could cover up how upset his was.

"Probably because Rukia was singing, she was good" Nel commented smiling trying to get him to show some kind of reaction. She put her hands behind her back strolling right in front of him walking backwards.

"Please, It sounded like someone strangling cats" he smirked slightly remembering that she commented his voice with that same metaphor. Nel's eyes lit up as she finally got a reaction laughing slightly at his remark.

"Be nice, she did really got for someone that didn't even have time to practice or prepare for it" she smiled as he slightly raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a questionable stare. As she sighed and continued.

"Grimmjow signed her up for tonight without telling her, I was kind of eve's dropping" She smiled recalling Grimmjow's reaction. Grimmjow was a mean, harsh, rude, and intolerable guy it was nice to see him be so gentle with her.

"He's an asshole" he grunted, taking his jealously out on Grimmjow.

"Not going to argue with you there. But it was cool to see him play nice for once, we've been working together forever and I've never seen him act so kind to someone." Nel smiled, she looked stunning from underneath the streetlamp lighting. There pace had finally slowed down a little and they just looked like a couple strolling the streets.

"He's just doing it to get into her pants" at least that's what he was telling himself, he told himself that Grimmjow wasn't worthy of Rukia.

"Oh stop it, he was being sincere. He just wanted to help his fiancé out, she seemed like she was having a bad day" she was smiling remembering there interaction, when Ichigo just stopped and turned to her in a flash.

"What!" he yelled his scowl removed leaving a wide eyes expression. The girl he was slowly falling for was already engaged? He honestly didn't have a chance with her?

"Yeah, you didn't notice the ring on her finger? Or that her and Grimmjow were and item?" she was surprised to see such a reaction from him, why the sudden interest though? Was Rukia the flavor of the week to him?

"I knew that but engaged?" he tried to recall his encounters with her but failed to remember a ring, why couldn't he have been more observant with her? why didn't he not notice that before that's usually the first thing he finds when he is attracted to a girl. Maybe he just didn't even care with her, he just wanted her and nothing else mattered.

"Yeah, I think they make a cute couple. It's nice to see a girl that can actually manage to be around Grimmjow without having the urge to kill him" Nel laughed to herself before she noticed how stiff Ichigo had become. She stopped and put her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner as he just sighed.

"Are you ok?" she asked with concern.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he asked trying to sound as casual as possible.

"I don't know, you seem upset that she is engaged." Her voice sounded so sad, she held such a deep low voice that he felt awful for making her hurt.

"Nah I just feel bad for any girl that has to be subjected to that ogre" he grunted as she giggled, all her worries gone now believing him completely she smiled at his usual scowl as she walked toward him. She looked down at the ground with a blush across her cheeks as she reached down with her right hand and slowly came down to his left gently touching his palm with her fingertips before grabbing his hand.

"Um, I'm sorry but I cant do anything tonight, Yuzu called to make sure I was going over so." He gently removed his hand and placed it back in his pocket as he saw her shattered expression and felt bad but he felt it would be wrong to be with her when his mind was filled with Rukia.

"I understand, tell the girls I said hi" she forced a smile as she stepped back a little glancing around to find a reason to leave again, because that's what she did. She came and left whenever he wanted her to. "We'll I will see you later, call me" she whispered before turning around and walking away from him at a fast paste.

He just turned around and started heading home, he had enough of tonight. He just wanted to go home and sulk a little bit about the chance he was never going to have with the raven haired girl he was so attracted to.

..

Rukia was roaming threw the streets half awake with a cold delicious coffee drink in her hand as she headed to a tall building that was very very far away from where she was staying, it was quite a trip. She let her black boots drag themselves as she walked she was wearing dark grey jeans with a tight white V neck that couldn't be seen since she had her usual black leather jacket zipped all the way up with a matching light grey and black stripped scarf wrapped around her neck, her sparrow necklace she wore everywhere and her big black leather bag hanging loosely from her shoulder.

She yawned again as she started to walk into one of the big buildings. She was exhausted from last night. She spent the entire night talking to Grimmjow about how she was feeling and everything that happened with Kaien as well as his new voicemail that she didn't have the heart to delete from her phone just yet.

She took off the big black sunglasses from her eyes and shoved it in her bag as she fixed her straight black hair trying to look presentable for the person she was about to be meeting. Thinking back to this morning, she probably should have dressed up more but at this point she didn't really care at all. Her feet lead her to the elevator almost as if it was automatic for her as she pressed a button and waited as it went up.

"Never thought I would be back here again" she mumbled to herself taking a sip of her drink trying to wake her up some more. This break away from Kaien wasn't helping much at all. Her hopes of thinking of him less were shot down the minute she got here. It seemed as if things just kept getting worse and that same wound was being ripped open over and over again and it was awful.

Who knew that starting a life without him would be so difficult?

The elevator stopped as she took a deep breathe walking out into the calm atmosphere. The floor level was like any other office, it had cubicles lined up as well as people walking around everywhere. All over the walls were various pieces of arts, photographs of bands and paintings. It was a very artsy atmosphere as she didn't even bother to look up just walked to the back where there was a room with a secretary in front of it. Rukia walked up and smiled down at the brown haired girl sitting there.

"Hello, I have an appointment with him about" Rukia looked down at her watch as she paused "now." The girl smiled as she began typing on the computer to bring up the schedule before speaking.

"Yes, he will see you in a minute if you don't mind waiting" she said in a gentle voice pointing to a couch and table to the right of her. Rukia whispered her thanks before sitting down placing her bag next to her and looking at the various magazines in front of her, all of them having the word _Rage_ written at the tops of them. Rukia smiled as she remembered all of the articles she wrote for the magazine.

It's been so long since she has been in this office, when Kaien proposed they moved over seas she was heartbroken to leave her writing behind. Sure he got her a job writing over there but it wasn't about art or music, it was just news. She hated that job, she couldn't believe the sacrifices she made for that man. She gave up her passion, her love, her entire identity for him and he didn't sacrifice a thing for her benefit.

Minutes went by as she pondered on her relationship further, it seemed like it was only when she was alone with her thoughts that he would come into her mind uninvited. How she despised this hold he had on her. She looked down and noticed the ring on her finger, the one she didn't have the heart to remove just yet, because she knew once she did that she was admitting to herself that it was over, that they will never be ever again.

"He's ready to see you" the brown haired lady said as she fixed her glasses, Rukia just smiled at her before standing up brushing off invisible dust from her tight grey jeans, lifting her bag up and gracefully walking into the office.

The office was very organized, it had light grey walls with various paintings on the wall, all with black frames. All the furniture in the office from the desk, shelves, and chairs were black. The rug was a deep red, it reminded her of the curtains from _Scarlet Ave._ She grinned as she put the bag on the chair.

"I'm finally back!" she smiled, looking at the man before her who wore an annoyed expression.

"Oh joy," he commented in a dull toneless voice. This was the man that made _Rage_, he brought this famous magazine here and he made sure it stayed on top. He was great with numbers, and he was a true in visionary. He could take a piece of crap from the side of the road and call it art and the world would nod there heads in agreement. He made art. The impressive part? He was only 18.

This is Hitsugaya Toshiro.

He was about the same height as Rukia, which was, lets face it, embarrassing. He has white spiky hair with the most hypnotizing turquoise eyes she has probably ever seen in her life. He was wearing a navy blue button up with a black tie and matching black slacks, his sleeves rolled up and his tie a little loose around his neck.

"I was expecting more enthusiasm, I was your favorite writer" she grinned walking over and sitting in the chair in front of him, only the desk separating them from each other.

"Why are you here again?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow. If you can't tell by now, him and Rukia have a very strange relationship. It wasn't a love hate relationship but it had similar features to it. He was always attracted to Rukia but never acted on it, he did the opposite which was treating her like he didn't care that she even existed. He was only 13 when he last saw her though, he was now an adult. She didn't return that same affection though, Rukia just enjoyed picking on him.

"To pester you, I flew all the way over seas and moved down here just to make your life more difficult" she kept her grin in place as she leaned forward resting her weight in her elbows.

"What makes you think you're welcomed?" he asked raising a questionable brow at her.

"You said if I ever changed my mind that there would always be a job here for me" Rukia said as she recalled her last day here. She told Toshiro she was leaving and he tried to make her stay but when she wouldn't he gave in and hugged her saying she would be missed.

He finally had time to admire just how beautiful she had gotten over the years. He didn't want to gawk but she was very attractive now.

"I must have been drunk" he grumbled filling out some paper work.

"You were only thirteen, kiddo. I think that would've been illegal" she commented snickering as she saw him drop his pen and look up, she knew that would upset him. He hated being called a kid. He just glared at her.

"You sure do know how to ask for you job back, old hag" he grunted trying to focus on his paper work.

"That's no way to treat a girl who moved back from across the sea just to have this job!" she threw back at him.

"I assumed you where here for your friends" he knew she was engaged, but why would she come all the way back here? Didn't he live over there?

"What friends?" she asked, in truth she didn't have many great friends. Not because she wasn't a nice person, I mean she was the most likeable person he had ever met. She just preferred having a few (one) really good friends and not have to worry so much about others.

"Right, I don't know a single person that could put up with you, me included. So why would I give you a job here where you would have to be constantly around me?" he grumbled his face still focused at the work ahead of him. As she sighed, she moved back and placed her arms on her lab before clearing her throat and lifting her head up ever so slightly with her lips pushed together, her giant eyes wide and shimmering as she frowned her eyebrows making a puppy dog face.

"Oh Shiro, would you be so kind as to give me my job back? It would make me the happiest girl in the world if you would be so generous" he blushed madly before slamming his head on the desk in defeat. She just started laughing at his expression. I never said she wasn't aware of the fact that he had a crush on her.

"You know you annoy me" He grumbled with his head down, why did she have to be such a good actress?

"And you entertain me" she smiled at him as he lifted his head back up and placed a hand on his forehead. Why he put up with her? he will never ever know.

"Fine, Fine, you can have you job back. Only because that's the only way I could get you out of my office." He said with his plain annoyed expression turning to the computer to email someone. She just smirked in victory.

"Thank you Shiro, I hope my cubical is open" She jumped up and ran out of the door before he could reply. He ignored her when he stopped typing and perked his head up realizing that it wasn't open, and feeling sorry for who ever was in it.

He looked at his desk and realized that she left her cold delicious drink behind. He looked at the door and saw no trace of her coming back in for it. He shrugged his shoulders and began to finish it for her. Why let it go to waste?

..

Rukia was happily walking toward her cubical, it was one at the very end by the window that faced the sunset. She knew going into this that she was going to get her job back, her and Toshiro were on good bases. She was a great writer and gave life to this magazine. He couldn't afford not to hire her. Her feet stopped as she could see a head poking out of from her cubical. She glared at that head as she started marching forward before stopping in front of the entrance.

"Hello, can I help you?" the girl asked in a soft voice, her eyes scanning over to Rukia, who stood there looking at this cute harmless girl.

"Yeah, I'm Rukia this cubi-"she couldn't even finish her sentence as the girl before her lit up her giant eyes glimmering as she jumped out from her seat.

"Rukia! Rukia Kuchiki!" she practically squealed as Rukia just gulped and shook her head. The girl did a strange jump before wrapping her arms around Rukia's neck.

"I love all your writings! You're the reason I came to work here! I'm so sorry I took your cubical I just felt honored to be able to work in the same cubical as you!" she jumped a little before regaining her composer and stretching a hand out to Rukia.

"My name is Senna, It's a pleasure to finally meet you" Senna smiled brightly as Rukia grasped her hand.

"Rukia Kuchiki" they both smiled gently at each other and shook hands when Rukia really looked at this girl's features, this girl was plain adorable. She was a little taller than Rukia and had dark violet hair that framed her face. She had these giant golden iris's that seemed to glow when the light hit them, it reminded her of a black cats eyes. She was wearing a white button up shirt that ended in a poof around her shoulders and had light blue flowers around the neck area and black slacks. She was a very cute girl.

"Before I leave today I will move to the cubical next to yours" Senna said as she started to take pictures and stuff of the walls. Rukia just smiled to her.

"No, don't even bother with it I can just have this one. Its less trouble for all of us" The girl put her things down and grinned.

"You're so much kinder than what I imagined!" she yelled again her eyes wide with excitement Rukia just giggled at her reaction.

"You flatter me to much, I'm just a normal girl like you" She could never see herself as anything above average. No matter what good things she may accomplish she could never give herself the credit that she deserved. "So Senna, what is it that you do?" Rukia asked.

"I'm the photographer, I didn't seem to have the talent for writing so I just take the pictures" She picked up a camera from next to her desk to show Rukia who thought it was an interesting job detail.

"Impressive, it takes a lot of patients and a good eye to take a photograph" Rukia smiled as she saw the look on this girls face.

"Oh no! it takes more talent to actually write a piece that moves people, that inspires people. Like you do" Rukia blushed as she said this, she loved to write it was her calling but to have someone tell her it had that much of an affect on them really touched her deeply. Rukia placed a hand on Senna's shoulder and flashed her a very rare smile that not many get to see, a true smile.

"Thank you Senna, It means the world to me that you would look at my work in such a way." Senna just smiled back at Rukia, this would be the start of a new friendship. Rukia said her goodbyes as she was walking out the door smiling, feeling proud of her new admirer.

It wasn't until she was closer to home (Which took many taxi cars and lots of walking to get to) that She looked both ways before crossing the streets and pulled out her cell phone, that had a bunny key chain on it, and pressed it to her ear.

"Hello?" a strong male voice could be heard on the other line.

"Hello Nii-sama, I just wanted to thank you for helping me get my job back" Her brother-in-law Byakuya had arranged for her to get her job back. He called Toshiro personally and asked him to accept Rukia back as a writer regardless of the fact they were not hiring at the time. he knew how much her writings meant to her and wanted to help. Although he acted cold he cared a lot about her.

"Your welcome" he simply put.

"Now that I'm in town again, Maybe we could meet up for lunch or do something" She loved him deeply. He was like her actual brother. She cared about him like she would a sibling and knew that he was still hurting just like she was. She knew that inside that cold man was a person that was broken and still trying to heal.

"Possibly, I will notify you when I can"

"Sounds great, I will see you soon hopefully" she smiled; you could hear it through the phone. She was walking down the streets not paying attention to anyone around her. Just the voice of her brother that she deeply cared about was all she heard.

"Goodbye Rukia" she lit up from his goodbye, she liked when he would say her name because it made it special. She whispered her goodbye when she opened her bag to put her phone away she was looking down at the purse smiling to herself about the great turn of events today. Things were beginning to look up for her now, nothing could ruin this day for Rukia.

When she opened her purse to put her phone away she got a call and it vibrated out of her grasp. She stumbled forward to grasp it before it hit the grown when she heard someone yell.

"Look out!" everything went black as she hit the ground.

..

There was something about broken things that was so beautiful to him. the way that something broken could always be fixed. The way a patient would come in with a broken arm or leg and instantly it could be fixed. There was nothing in the entire world that couldn't be fixed after being broken.

Senna, she fixed him. After his mother died, he felt a big piece of him died with her that night. After years of wondering through life with no direction just stumbling around trying to find some clarity in all his anger, all his pain. Until he found her, when she came into his life and changed his world. She came and took his affection, his love, and his heart. And she left, she told him it would be like she never existed. That there was no Senna in his life. How could she say that to him? how could she tell him that she was never in his life when she left her finger prints everywhere?

He shoved his hands in the pocket's of his dark blue scrubs, his black long sleeve shirt underneath was rolled up to his elbows. He was walking up and down the hall bringing charts to the doctors and giving patients there medication when he heard a racket in the room down the hall. He lifted an eyebrow as he saw some various items being thrown out of the room and yelling. He ran over as fast as he could into the room.

"What the hell is going on in here!" he demanded when his eyes widened in shock. Before him was Rukia Kuchiki, she was wearing her skin tight white v neck with her dark pants and no shoes. All her belongings were on a desk next to her. he looked down and noticed that her left arm had a huge gash and blood trickling from her fingertips onto the ground. Above her left eye he noticed that blood was dripping down over her eye and down her cheek. Her face turned into a scowl as she looked at the man that was infront of her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she yelled at him as two of the other interns were backing away from her as she was standing next to the bed she was just in, her arm supporting her weight as she tried walking, for some reason she was very light headed and woozy.

"I should be asking you that midget" he smirked as he walked forward motioning for the two interns to leave the room and they did not waste time as they rushed out the door to get away from the she devil in the room.

"I was just leaving actually" she threw back as she started to slowly walk towards the door not letting go of the edge of the bed.

"With injuries like that your not going anywhere" he smirked some more as he walked forward and gently grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back as she landed softly on her bed wincing at the pain it caused in her head.

"Who are you to tell me I cant leave?" she demanded as she sat up one eye closed in pain the other eye trying to send the meanest look in his directions, almost as if she was going to set him on fire.

"I will be the one treating you today" He smiled, have the fates came out to smile at him today?

Was she a broken soul that needed to be fixed?


End file.
